Where No One Goes
by Earth Star
Summary: After Keith's encounter Thace, questions remain and he's not certain he wants the answers to them. However, after Pidge's request to locate the rebels, the two of them seek out the resistance with both of them not certain what they will find out. (Part 2 of What If The Storm Ends?)
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: So, this fic is considered part 2 to "What If The Storm Ends?" so if you haven't read that, I would recommend you do so to understand this fic.

This fic will feature original characters because they were needed for plot reasons and also attempt world building for the Galra. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this!

Chapter 1

The dagger had once belonged to his father, and as the tradition in his family went, it automatically went to Thace when he had died. He traced his fingers along the the hilt. Thace had often wondered if he would be able to pass the blade to his own child, or perhaps that tradition would die with him.

"Thace, are you with us?"

Thace glanced up, and quickly recomposed himself. "Sorry, lost in thought," he said with a nod. "Please proceed, Leah."

Across the table, Leah gave a nod as she picked up her tablet and glanced to the other members of the group.

"Now then, you were saying, Vector?" she asked.

The old Pavonani warrior cleared her throat as she ran her claws through the orange fur on her neck. "The weapons factory on Acradius has been destroyed, and with no innocent casualties."

Thace raised an eyebrow. That was already known information in the rebel cell. They had all read the report that morning. "That is good news, but I doubt you gathered us to discuss that."

Vector grimaced and gave a nod. "It was..too easy. There were low number of guards at the factory and there was only a single ship to guard the planet."

Thace narrowed his eyes. That was strange. The empire tried to appoint at least three ships for every weapons factory, especially since the return of Voltron in hope they could capture the paladins if they choose to strike it.

"So, what?" Zelda snapped as she tapped her finger against her table. "It was one of the older factories, and Zarkon has been spreading his troops everywhere he can. They probably reduced the number there to place them elsewhere."

Ford scoffed from where he was leaning against the wall and raised his cybernetic arm. "You weren't there," he said in a gruff tone. "Something wasn't right, it's like they were waiting for us."

"They were probably waiting for Voltron," Zelda spat.

"Maybe not," Leah said and all eyes turned to her. "Tina got a report from Oberon this morning and his sources say Zarkon has appointed ships in both the Kaldona and Imdali System."

Thace's eyes widened. "Didn't we destroy some slave transport ships in the Kaldona System recently?"

Vector nodded. "And we destroyed a factory in the Imdali System with little effort since Zarkon had ordered all of his ships back to his command centre to capture Voltron at the time."

"The empire is becoming suspicious," Leah said, grimly. "Or, we at least have to assume so."

Zelda huffed as she crossed her arms and glared in Thace's direction. "I can't imagine how THAT happened."

Thace sighed. He'd been waiting for this since he got back. "Is there something you wish to say to me, Zelda?"

She scoffed. "Only that's it's your foolishness that got us into this mess and take responsibility."

Thace saw Leah twitch slightly, but kept her calm expression. "Zelda, we've been through this," she said in a stern tone. "We're not arguing this again."

"I am not arguing," Zelda sneered. "I'm merely suggesting that the empire might not be suspicious if Thace hadn't exposed himself when assisting the paladins of Voltron," she sneered. "That was reckless and he should have-"

Ford silenced her by slamming his fist on the table. "Should have what?" he snapped. "Thace guessed that the paladins would come to rescue the Altean princess, but he only had a few ticks to make a plan for it!"

"Ford, it's fine," Thace stated. "I can defend myself."

"I'm not defending you," Ford replied. "I just can't stand stupid logic and Zelda is full of it."

"How is pointing out someone's mistakes stupid?!" Zelda snapped and might have started a fight if Vector hadn't grabbed her shoulders.

"Mistakes you say!" Ford shook his cybernetic arm in the air at her. "What would you rather he do then? Let Zarkon get his hands on the most powerful weapon in the universe!"

Zelda paused at the remark and frowned. "Of course not, but perhaps he could have-"

"That's enough!" Leah said as she sprung from her chair and slammed her hands on the table. "Given the circumstances, Thace did the best he could with the best options and it was the exact same choice I would have made!"

She glared at Zelda. "I have already stated as such and bickering what could have been won't change anything! All we can do now is focus on the future." Leah narrowed her eyes. "Is that understood, Zelda?"

The Galran woman looked tempted to argue, but shut her mouth with a tight frown. "Yes."

"Good," Leah said as she sat back down. "Right now, I want us to try to keep a low of a profile as possible and remain on high alert."

She glanced to Vector. "I want to increase surveillance around the planet and patrols inside the tunnels. Also, perhaps it would be best if we began preparations to locate to a new base."

Vector nodded as she started to type on her tablet. "I'll pass that on to Stig, and we may be able to provide more sensors in the tunnels."

"And I'll look up possible planets for us to relocate to," Thace stated.

"Do that then," Leah said. "Ford, those ships we acquired recently, how long will it take to fix them up to be flyable? I want us to be able evacuate the base the moment we suspect the empire it coming for us."

Ford sighed as he rubbed his neck. "They weren't in the best shape when we got them."

Thace agreed, but that was exactly why they had taken them. Damaged ships sitting waiting to be disposed were less likely to be noticed.

"With that said," Ford continued, "it's possible we could have them workable with a few days to at least transport, longer if you wanted me to include weapons."

Leah folded her hands. "Try to include at least one canon on each if you can, but I want them to be able to fly safely to transport people to come first."

Ford sighed. "I'll have an aching back from it, but I'll do it."

"Thank you," Leah said and turned her head. "Zelda, go and pass the message to the other rebel cells to be on high alert as well." She crossed her eyes. "And, if I hear you were expressing your opinion on how this happened, I'll be putting you on child care duty for the next cycle."

Thace tried not to snicker as Zelda gave a horrified look. It was no secret Zelda had no patience for the children and would probably rather have her leg cut off.

"Very well," Zelda said as she rose and gave a bow before exiting the room with Vector following.

Thace watched them go and felt Leah placed a hand on his shoulder. "You know that Zelda is the exception?" she said gently. "Everyone else agrees you did the right thing."

"Did I?" Thace said as he fingered the dagger. "Upon reflection, I can't help but wonder if there was a better solution."

"Oh, don't you dare go down that route," Ford said as he leaned against the table. "Even if a better solution existed, you didn't know about it then and made the best judgement. We can't change the past."

"He's right," Leah insisted and gave a small smile. "I won't lie it is good to have you back home."

Thace sighed and rubbed his neck. "Thank you, although I hate that we won't have such an easy access to information without me there."

"We'll deal with it," Leah said. "So, don't let Zelda trouble you, Thace." She shrug and a bitter smile. "You know she's always assumes she can do better. She's been like that even when when my father was leader."

"It amazes me he never shot her," Ford grumbled.

"Ford," Leah threatened as she shot him a look.

"It's fine," Thace said as he got out of the chair. "Truthfully, I could care less on what Zelda thinks."

"Then what's troubling you?" Leah asked with a concerned frown. "I know you, something is on your mind."

Thace paused as his grip tightened on his dagger. "It's trivial, don't worry yourself over it."

"That only makes me more suspicious," Leah commented.

Ford's face hardened as he drew closer. "You're thinking about the kid, aren't you?"

Thace flinched, but kept his face unreadable. However, he knew the damage was done.

"Yeah, knew it," Ford said with his arms folded. "You're worried about him. The paladins are mostly kids."

"Who have very capable warriors," Thace replied in a firm tone. "I've seen it myself. They are more able to take care of themselves."

"Even so," Leah said gently as she picked up the tablet. "It's reasonable for you to be concerned considering the boy is-"

"I'm sorry, Leah, but I need to go," Thace as he proceed to head out. "I promised Stig I'd help with the security checks and then I need to find that list."

"Alright," Leah replied in a comforting tone only those close to her would hear, "but Thace, if you need to talk, I'm here."

Thace gave a nod as he left the room, with his hand still gingerly touching his dagger.

080808080808080808080808080808080808080808080

Shiro clapped as the robot gladiator was removed from the floor. "Good work out, team! You managed to beat your old record."

"Yay," Lance said wearily as he leaned against Hunk for support. "And I only got twice the amount of bruises to take that down. Fantastic."

Keith had his sword return to bayard form as he offered Pidge a hand to stand. "Then that means you've got to improve your speed so you don't get hit as often."

Lance rolled his eyes. "I move just fine, but you need to improve your aim."

"Says the guy who I shielded six times."

"No, it was only three and I shielded you five times."

"No, it was only four!"

Hunk sighed. "I guess you two arguing on protected the other more is a sign of improvement."

Keith became quiet and blushed slightly as he rubbed his neck. "Yeah..well..I just rather try to make improve our chances of not getting separated again," he muttered.

It had been over a month since team Voltron had been reunited with each other, and Keith never thought he'd been so grateful to have his 'family' back. That month of not knowing where everyone was and missing them caused Keith to have an ache he'd rather not repeat.

Lance blinked, looking a bit stunned and turned his head. "That's...one thing we can agree on."

Shiro offered a small smile as he patted both Keith and Lance's shoulder. "Hey, that's the kind of bond we're trying to build and what we're going to need on the next mission."

"You mean destroying that old weapons factory on Acradius?" Pidge said with her arms folded. "I still don't get why the empire keeps that place running. From the specs I saw, it's falling apart."

"Yeah, but it's also one of the largest factories," Hunk said. "At least that's what Coran told me, and it's been ruining the environment of that planet for decades."

"Exactly," Shiro said with a nod. "Not to mention the latest changes Zarkon has been making there have been making the inhabitants of that planet sick."

Keith nodded. The message they had received from the residents there was so desperate. The waste from the factory had been polluting their water sources and making everyone dangerously ill.

Of course, the Galrans haven't lifted a finger to help and if something wasn't done soon, the people there weren't going to last much longer.

"This might be a good time to go over our plan for taking it down," Shiro said.

"There's been a change in the plans, Lads," Coran spoke as he entered waving a tablet around. "You all aren't going to believe this, but we're cancelling the mission."

"What?" Hunk said as his eyes widened. "Why? Don't those people need our help?"

"Oh, they do," Coran stated as he folded his arms, "or I should say they did."

A feeling of dread washed over the group, and Keith paled. "Coran..don't tell us that we're too late?"

Coran blinked and his eyes widened in alarm. "Oh, no, no! You misunderstand! I meant as in someone beat us to the punch."

"What?" Shiro asked baffled.

"I just received word from the head chief that the weapons factory has already been destroyed," Coran said as he hit a button on the tablet and brought up a recorded image.

Keith blinked. They had seen pictures of the factory before, and it was clear it was the same location, except nothing remained now but a pile of burning rubble.

"I don't get it," Lance said scratching his head and PIdge frowned in thought. "What happened?"

"We're not certain," Coran explained. "Allura is speaking to the head chief as we speak. They had assumed it was our doing and were calling to thank us."

"Um, that's nice except it wasn't us," Hunk said as he folded his chin. "Unless we're starting to fight in our sleep. Is that a Voltron thing? Because sleep-fighting would allow for a whole lot more shut-eye."

"Unless you got infected with a Lambda parasite, that's not likely to happen," Coran replied as he grasped his chin. "One of them did find and sent us footage taken by the factory's cameras near the docking area, but there's no sign of anyone arriving or leaving the place."

Shiro frowned as his eyes narrowed. "Is it possible the factory just had an accident?"

Or it could be the Galra rebels, Keith thought, but kept his mouth shut.

"Could be," Coran replied thoughtfully as Pidge looked over his shoulder. "Accidents do happen, even to vast empires-"

"Or it could be the Galra rebels," Pidge voiced.

Keith winced slightly and sighed. Here we go, he thought as he caught Shiro's hard stare.

"Hey, yeah," Lance said as his eyes lit up slightly. "Mysterious explosion with no sign of who or what actually did it?" He looked to Keith. "Isn't that the kind of thing that Thace guy said they did?"

Keith rubbed his neck. "Yeah..he did."

"Blowing up a weapons factory that's hurting a whole planet would be right up their alley," Hunk muttered.

"Indeed," Coran said, "and, now that you mention it, there were no reports of innocent casualties besides a few Galran soldiers, but even they had no fatal wounds."

"It's gotta be them!" Pidge exclaimed as she turned to their leader. "Shiro, this could be our chance to track them down."

Shiro gave a deep sigh, and Keith couldn't blame him. Ever since Keith's reveal of Thace and the rebellion to the team, Pidge had been quite persistent in trying to find more about them, despite Shiro and Allura always replying 'No.' Keith was beginning to feel guilty for ever bringing it up.

"Pidge," he said as he rubbed his eyes, "we've been through this. Thace made it clear they don't want us to find them, and frankly we don't know much about them."

"And how are we going to learn more about them if we don't talk to them," Pidge argued with a determined glare in her eyes. "They could have vital information for us."

"Pidge-"

"Shiro, they could know what happened to my dad and brother!"

Shiro went quiet at that. Lance and Hunk both tensed slightly and Coran narrowed his eyes. Keith sucked in the air through his teeth. He had a feeling that was why Pidge had been insisting so much to find the rebellion.

He couldn't blame her. Keith himself spent a year trying to figure out what had happened to Shiro during the Kerberos mission. If he had known Shiro was alive and captured by the Galra, he probably would have hijacked the nearest ship to try to rescue him sooner.

"She's not wrong, Shiro," Keith said softly. "Thace did say they try to free prisoners when they can."

You included, Keith thought silently.

Shiro frowned, but his face softened as he looked to Pidge. "Okay, that is a good point to bring up." He folded his arms. "But Pidge, the chance of them having information on Sam and Matt aren't great. The empire has thousands of slaves to the point they don't even bother to track them by name. They all just get assigned random numbers."

Keith flinched at that. How humiliating was it to be captured, turned into a slave and then have your very name ripped away from you to be replaced with a number? It would make you feel less than human, like some worthless object.

Shiro being named 'The Champion' was probably some bizarre privilege in the empire's eyes.

"I know," Pidge said in a firm tone, "but no matter how small, isn't it worth taking a chance?"

Shiro looked hesitant as he shut his eyes and then sighed. "Alright, I'll think about it and discuss it with Allura so we can form a solid plan on how to go about this."

"We can't wait, Shiro! We need to try to track them down while the trail is fresh," Pidge said with a frustrated growl. "We might not get a better chance than this!"

"Um...to be fair, we don't really know for certain the rebels did this, Pidge," voiced Hunk as he raised a hand.

"He's right," Coran said, "and from what I've seen if it was them they made certain not to leave a trace to track. I'm not certain it's possible."

Pidge huffed. "Okay, fine, but maybe if we-"

"Pidge, that's enough," Shiro said in his clear commander tone and patted her shoulder. "I promise I will rethink about it with Allura, but you need to drop this for the time being. Alright?"

Pidge opened and shut her mouth, but she looked less than pleased. "Fine," she said in a huff as she turned. "If we're done training for today, can I go? I need to get some work done."

"Sure, Pidge," Shiro said, "I'll come check on you later, though. Okay?"

Pidge didn't give a reply as she stomped through the doors.

Lance coughed as he slowly approached Shiro. "Well, so much for our 'great teamwork' celebration."

Hunk glanced to the doors where Pidge had gone. "Do you think she's okay?"

"She'll be fine," Shiro replied, "but I just want her to cool off a little. Last thing we want is rushing into this without a clear head."

"Yeah...I guess," Keith muttered.

His thoughts drifted back to Thace, and then to the dagger that carried a carved symbol Keith had on his own in his bedroom.

"Keith, you alright?" Coran asked. "You look lost in thought."

Keith jumped slightly and shook his head. "No, it's nothing. I'm just tired."

"We could all use a break," Shiro said as he folded his arms. "You're off duty guys, consider today a day off in fact, while I go talk with Allura."

Lance's face lit up. "YES! Those are my favourite words to hear."

Hunk raised an eyebrow. "I thought they were 'You were right, Lance'."

"No, those are my second favourite words to hear," Lance commented and then paused. "Actually, now that I think about it, it's probably tied to hearing 'Oh, Lance, you are so brave and talented. I will definitely go on a date'."

"When have you heard anyone say that?" Hunk asked with a half grin.

"I haven't, that's why it's tied for second."

Keith ignored the talk as he exited the training room. He then proceeded to remove his helmet as he headed to his room. There was a lot he had to think about too.


	2. Chapter 2

Quiet in his room, Keith stretched out on his bed as he slowly undid the wrappings on his dagger. His eyes lingered on the hilt as he let his fingers trace the carved design. It still bugged him.

Keith had tried several times to put Thace and his similar dagger out of his mind. Yet, each time he tried, other questions would pop in it's place. Why did Thace know so much about Earth? Why did he look at Keith with a nostalgic expression?

Keith would shoved them aside too, but then more questions would pop up like weeds. Was there a weird connection between his dagger and Thace? Did he somehow know his father?

Why was he able to operate Galra technology on the Balmera?

Keith snarled at the last question as he rewrapped the dagger and rubbed his eyes. That question had haunted Keith even before the team had gotten separated, and thanks to Thace Keith discovered he was seriously pondering it more and more.

I don't know why I'm worrying about this junk, Keith thought. Thace is the only person I could get the answers from, and it's not like I can call the guy up.

There was a knock at the door that caused Keith to jump slightly.

"Keith, it's me," Pidge called out.

Keith frowned as he put the dagger away and opened the door. Pidge stood there back in her regular clothes and with her laptop in hand. He noted she still held the determine glare she held in the training room.

"Uh, hey," Keith said as he rubbed his neck. "You need something?"

Pidge adjusted her glasses. "I need to talk to you. Can I come in?"

That took Keith by surprise. He liked Pidge and respected her, but she had a much closer relationship with Hunk and Lance. After the argument with Shiro earlier, going to one of them would make more sense.

Both of them were way better at offering emotional support than Keith. He was never very good at forming the words people needed to hear to feel better. However, with the look in her eye, Keith didn't have the heart to send her away.

"Uh, okay," he said as he stepped aside, "but..I'm not very good at comforting people."

Pidge blinked in confusion and then gave a little chuckle. "No, no, it's nothing like that. Relax." She held up her laptop. "I meant I have something I need to show you."

Keith tried to hide the relief that washed over him and shut the door. "So, what is it?"

Pidge sat on the edge of Keith's bed and opened her laptop. "I've been going over the recordings Coran and Allura received, and I think I found something."

She brought up the video and it flowed the same way Keith saw it before, but then she suddenly paused. "Look, right here at the screen?" she said. "See something odd?"

Keith raised an eyebrow and stared. At first he was going to say he saw nothing, but then saw a small ripple in the middle of the empty dock. "Is that a glitch?"

"Could be," Pidge said as she smirked, "but I'm betting it's the light refracting around a hidden ship.

Keith's eyes widened at her meaning. "You think their ships have a cloaking device?" Keith asked in interest.

"Yes, and I'm betting it's a bit similar to what I built on Green," Pidge said.

"Alright," Keith said, "but how does that help us? The ship is long gone by now."

Pidge grinned. "Here's the thing, cloaking a ship takes A LOT of power. Green can do it easily because she's a Lion of Voltron, and thus is a mini powerhouse."

She tapped the screen. "However, judging by the size of this small dock, this had to have been a small transport ship. Even running a reactor half the size of the ship at full power, they could stay cloaked for only for a few minutes at most, and this footage is an hour long."

"So, how did they do it?" Keith asked.

"My theory is that they used radiative far-field power transfer to run the ship's cloaking device, so that a stationary generator could supply the energy they need. The issue is that even Altean tech can't get around the Rayleigh criterion - there's a hard distance limit on transferring the kind of energy involved here…"

Seeing Keith's confusion, Pidge held up her hands. "Think of it like a huge internet router. The further away you get from it, the weaker the signal gets."

"So, the rebel base for these guys would have to be close by," Keith concluded.

"Exactly," Pidge said as she brought up a chart of various blue lines. "Once I realized that, I then also hacked one of Acadis's satellites and looked up the electromagnetic spectral history around that time." The chart moved to the right and suddenly there was a set of six blue lines.

"See here," she said and pointed to it. "It's faint, but it looks like the satellite picked up the energy transfer." Pidge looked back to Keith. "If all the rebels ships use this, I could have Green trace the signal to it's source."

Keith was getting steadily uncomfortable where this was going. "Why are you showing me this?" he asked, although his gut knew exactly why.

Pidge's eyes hardened. "I'm going to go in Green Lion to trace the signal, and I want you to come with me."

I knew it, Keith thought as he rubbed his eyes. "Pidge, you heard what Shiro said and on that matter why only me?"

"Because you're the only one in our group who has had any contact with them," Pidge replied and shrugged. "Figure would raise our chances of the rebels trusting us if you came along."

"I only met Thace," Keith replied as he stood up and started to pace, "and we don't even know if the ones that took out the factory are from the same rebel cell as him. He said there were a few of them."

"It's still better than nothing," Pidge said as she stood. "Look, I do understand what Shiro is saying, but this is the best lead I've had in finding my family in a long time." Her eyes softened. "Please, Keith. I can't let this chance slip by!"

Keith looked into Pidge's pleading eyes, and suddenly understood why Hunk, Lance and Shiro had a hard time saying 'No' to her sometimes. He ran a hand through his hair.

"If I refuse, you're just going to find someway to go by yourself aren't you?" he said.

Pidge folded her arms. "Let me ask you this, if you were in my shoes, wouldn't you?"

"...Yes," Keith admitted reluctantly. "Don't you think we should at least tell Hunk and Lance about all of this?"

Pidge frowned and tucked her hands into her pockets. "I've thought about it, but they'll both insist on either telling Shiro or coming with us."

She raised her head at him. "I figured it would take longer for everyone to realize that two paladins are missing over four, especially if it's us two specifically. You have a habit spending hours alone in the training room, and me working on stuff in the hangar."

Keith folded his arms in thought. She's right. Hunk and Lance are the most social, and Shiro would notice them gone a lot sooner than he would if Pidge and I just went.

"So," Pidge asked again as she fidgeted slightly. "What's your answer?"

Keith drummed his fingers against his elbow. He knew what his answer was, and boy Shiro was going to kill them when he found out.

"Okay, I'll go with you," he said and held up a finger, "but only on the condition we leave a note saying where we're going so they can find us if we run into trouble."

Pidge wrinkled her nose and then sighed. "Yeah, that's fair and probably the safe thing to do."

Keith sat back down on the bed. "So, what's your plan then?"

"We head out while everyone is asleep tonight," Pidge explained as she sat beside him. "In the meantime, I'm going to research the nearby planets in the sector and try to narrow which one would make a good rebel hideout. That should help tracing the signal. " She shrugged. "Till then, act normal."

Keith gave a nod. "Alright, but I'll try to see if I can snag some supplies without Coran noticing."

"Sounds good," Pidge said as she picked up her laptop. "I'm going to get to work." She paused with her hand on the door and turned back around.

"Also, Keith, thanks," she said. "This does mean a lot to me."

"It's fine," he reassured her and placed a hand on his dagger. "Honestly, there are a few things I need to ask Thace too."

Pidge seemed curious, but said no more as she left and shut the door behind her.

Keith rolled to his back and let his hand drop over his eyes. "Shiro is so going to kill us when he finds out," he muttered under his breath.

08080808080808080808080808080808080

Keith and Pidge were able to carry out their plan with no one being the wiser. Lance and Hunk spent most of the day in the recreation room, while Shiro, Allura and Coran spent the day in the observation deck privately discussing on how to approached the Galran rebels.

However, judging by the somber expression Shiro and Allura held, they hadn't been able to come to proper conclusion yet. He heard Shiro ressaure Pidge they were still working on it, but Keith was certain every passing second was simply driving Pidge with more motivation for their plan.

Keith did feel guilty when he saw Shiro at dinner. He knew their leader was not going to be happy with what they were doing, but Keith couldn't abandoned Pidge. Even if Keith told Shiro about it, Pidge would find a way to take off on her own.

If anything, Keith wanted to ensure someone was with Pidge to make certain she was safe. He had a feeling Hunk and Lance would reach the same conclusion in his case.

Eventually, everyone returned to their quarters for bed. Keith didn't bother to change, and silently packed his bag with the supplies he managed to snag for the trip. His eyes then landed upon the dagger and he found his fingers hovering over it.

Should he bring it? Would it be better to leave it behind? Keith chewed his bottom lip and found himself stuffing the dagger into the bag before he had a chance to think twice on it.

He slipped the bag over his shoulder as his door opened and Pidge poked her head inside.

"Let's go," she whispered. "Green and Red are both ready."

Keith nodded and turned off his light as he followed Pidge into the dark hall.

0808080808080808080808080808080808080

Within a few hours they had reached Acadis in their lions with little effort.

"Okay, Pidge," Keith said as they hovered near the planet. "Where to now?"

"Just a sec," Pidge said over the headset. "I'm going to start tracking the signal...now! Alright, I'm going to connect Red to it, so you should see it on your control panel."

Keith waited and as promised, a small blue screen with a red line appeared.

"Got it," Keith confirmed. "So, we just follow it?"

"For now," Pidge said as the lions started to go in the direction on the map. "I have a feeling that the closer we get to the source, the more the signal is going to get scrambled."

Keith frowned as he tapped the control panel. "If they're scrambling the signal, then how are we able to pick it up at all?"

"Green's hardware is powerful enough that she can work through it, and plus we're farther away from the source. They can jam the local area with 'noise', but they can't hide where that general area is," Pidge explained. "But, once we're closer, that kind of jamming will be more on level with Green's effectiveness."

"So even Green can't pinpoint them exactly?" Keith asked.

"You got it," Pidge said. "At that point, we're just going to have to use good old-fashioned deduction and search on where the rebels could be hiding."

"Gotcha," Keith said as they soared. "We better keep an eye out for ships too. With our luck, one of the rebel ships could pass us without even knowing it."

There was silence. "Huh, good point." She gave a laugh. "Hey, you can use your brain when needed."

Keith rolled his eyes, but held a smirk as they followed after the signal.

080808080808080808080808080808080

"I'm bored," Pidge's voice broke on the intercom.

Keith gave a sigh. They had been flying in silence for the past hour, and he'd been sensing Pidge was getting tired of it.

"Don't know what you expect me to do about it?" Keith answered.

"How about we play a game of I spy?" Pidge offered.

Keith raised an eyebrow. "In space?"

"Yeah," Pidge stated sounding more cheerful. "You start!"

Red growled in Keith's head like she was encouraging him.

Keith shook his head as he gave a sour frown. "Fine, I spy something black."

"Keith, space itself doesn't count."

"If you want creative talk to Lance," Keith replied. "And since when does I spy have rules?"

Pidge gave a huff. "Alright, no I spy, how about we talk?"

Keith rubbed his neck. Uh oh, he was never good at making small talk. "About what?"

"Something fun," Pidge said as she flew Green closer to Red. "Like who is your favorite Star Wars character? I always liked R2-D2."

Keith's shoulders slacked. "That's easy, I don't have one."

Pidge laughed. "Because too many to choose from?"

"No, because I have never seen Star Wars," Keith replied in a flat tone.

A gasp was heard on the intercom. "What?! Not even the first one?!"

"Nope," Keith said flatly. Although, he wasn't quite certain which was the 'first' one. He always got confused when people talk about it. Weren't those prequels the first? That's why they were prequels. Yet, people always said the fourth movie was the original? How did that work?

"How is that possible?!" Pidge exclaimed in shock. "Shiro told me he saw all of them!"

Keith shrugged. "He has, and I haven't." He didn't get what the big deal was.

Pidge gave a huff. "I'll have to lecture him when we get back. He has clearly failed in being a proper foster brother to you."

"Well, to be fair, I didn't meet Shiro until I was 12," Keith explained.

There was a pause. "Wait, I thought Shiro's family raised you?" Pidge replied.

Keith blinked. Oh, right, guess Shiro and I never did tell them the full details.

He cleared his throat. "They did, but I wasn't sent to live with them until I was 12."

"Where did you live before that?" Pidge asked in a more gentler tone.

"Different places," Keith explained. "I lived with my mom, but then she died when I was a kid. She had no family, so I got bounced around from different foster homes a lot. Shiro's family was the most stable placement I ever got."

"What about your dad?" Pidge asked, concerned. "Where's he at?"

Keith's hands tightened on the control. "Don't know. Mom said he was around when I was a baby, but I don't even know his name or what happened to him."

Or if he was even human, Keith thought, but tossed it aside. Red gave a comforting purr in his head, probably sensing he was feeling awkward.

"Whoa," Pidge said in a soft tone. "Keith, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry."

"It's okay," Keith replied. "It's not like I expect you to be a mind reader."

"Still, that couldn't have been easy," Pidge said. "I just assumed-"

The blue map on the screen suddenly turned to white noise.

"Pidge, the map's gone," Keith stated as he tapped the screen.

"See that," Pidge said as he heard rapid tapping on her end. "I got a list of nearby planets and sending them to you now."

Four images of planets suddenly appeared on the screen. Keith frowned as he gripped his chin in thought.

"What about this planet? Sanada?" Keith said as he tapped the image of the small blue planet for more information.

"Hmm...don't think so," Pidge voice. "It's mostly water with barely any land. Unless the rebels have an underwater base, they would be too expose. Maybe that Leto planet?"

Keith tapped the green planet Pidge was referring to. "It's a forest planet," he said and grimaced as he read over the details. "And used often by the Galra as a fueling station."

"Right, so scratch that off," Pidge said as the two planets disappeared off the screen. "That leaves Belegost and Albea."

Keith narrowed his eyes as he read the information on them both. "Belegost looks like it's mostly desert..Wait a sec."

Keith taced his finger over what he just read for the planet Albea. "Pidge, Albea is mostly a rock planet."

"Yeah, so?" Pidge said.

"And it has mountains," Keith continued with a smile. "Wouldn't that make a prime a spot for a rebel base to hide?"

Pidge gave out a low whistle. "Good point, it's a decent place to start. Let's head there."

"Roger that," Keith said as he turned his lion towards the planet. His eyes gazed back to his bag as his thoughts drifted back to his dagger, but he shoved them aside. He did not want to be thinking about that right now.

08080808080808080808080808080808080808080

Pidge and Keith decided to land their lions near the base of what was suppose to be the largest mountain on the planet. Keith stepped out of Red with his bag of supplies over his shoulder as he gazed around the rocky terrain.

"The rocks around here should give us enough cover," Keith said as Pidge came of Green carrying a scanner in her hand. "Have you been able to pick up anything?"

Pidge chewed her bottom lip as she saved around. "Nope, signal is still getting scrambled. We might just have to go looking around."

"If the rebels are here, there has to be some transport ships or something," Keith muttered.

"Unless their underground," Pidge said as she walked ahead and paused. "But if that's a case, they would need tunnels."

Keith raised his head and spotted a small cave among the rocks. "Like that one?"

Pidge looked and grinned. "Exactly like that one."

The raced towards the cave, and as they drew closer Keith spotted something shiny sticking out of the ground. Keith paused and held Pidge back as he kneeled to dig through the dirt.

"What are you doing?" Pidge asked.

Keith silently dug out the small item and brushed the dirt off as he held it up. "What does this look like to you?" he asked.

Pidge squinted her eyes and then widened. "Looks like a bolt, like the ones we've seen in the castle."

"That's what I thought," Keith said as he gave the bolt to her and kneeled forward. "There are some wet patches here too, like someone came through with a bucket of water."

"Had to have been recent since everything else is a dry as a bone," Pidge said as she brought out her bayard. "This is definitely looking like someone lives here."

"Yeah, but it could be some locals, or worse Galra soldiers," Keith commented as he rose. "So, let's keep our guard up."

"No need to say that twice," Pidge said as she entered the cave. "Let's go, we're not going to get any more clues out here."

Keith gave a nod as he followed and made certain to stay close to Pidge.

08080808080808080808080808080808080808080

Lance yawned as he leaned against Hunk's shoulder for support. "Why does training have to be so early?"

"Because that's just how the universe works," Hunk responded as he wrapped an arm around Lance to steady him. "You'll be more awake once we get some breakfast."

Lance sighed. "Please tell me you're cooking today? I'm really craving some pancakes."

"I am, but I'm going to try to make some waffles for Pidge to cheer her up," Hunk replied as they walked down the hall.

Lance frowned as he pushed himself off of Hunk. "You think she's still angry at Shiro?"

"Don't know, but she was spending A LOT of time on her laptop yesterday," Hunk said and then realized what he said. "Well, a lot more than usual for her."

"Yeah, but can't say I blame her," Lance remarked as he leaned against the wall. "I'm kind of with Pidge on this. Working with the Galra rebels would be useful."

"Yeah, but Shiro has a point. Just because they're rebels doesn't mean they're entirely good," Hunk remarked and gestured to his arms. "Also, can you really blame Shiro for not wanting to work with them?"

"...No, I can't," Lance replied. Shiro always seemed to grimace whenever the Galra rebels were brought up, although Lance probably would too if he had been captured and had his arm replaced.

The Galra rebels weren't the ones that did that to him, but that probably didn't give Shiro much comfort.

"Keith thinks that Thace guy was okay though," Lance replied. "He did take care of him when he was hurt."

"That's true," Hunk replied and sighed. "For now, we better just wait for Shiro and Allura to decide what to do. Knowing Shiro, we probably will seek them out eventually, but he just needs some time to brew on it. You know?"

Lance didn't hear Hunk. Instead he was focussed on a slip of paper that was tapped from Pidge's door.

"What's that?" he asked as he pointed.

Hunk frowned and picked up the note. "It's got our names on it," he said and he flipped it over. "Looks like Pidge tore it out of her notebook."

That made Lance concerned. "Why would she leave us a note?"

Hunk froze and dread spread across his face. "Dude...you don't think.."

Lance yanked the note from Hunk's hands and opened to read it aloud.

Hey Guys,

By the time you read this I have gone off in Green to track down the rebels. Don't worry, I'm not alone. Keith is coming with me.

"How does that ease our worries?!" Lance cried, and Hunk took it back to read the rest aloud.

We're leaving the tracker signals on Red and Green so you can hunt us down.  
And yes, we realize Shiro will kill us.

See you guys later,  
Pidge

Hunk slapped his forehead. "Oh man, it's too early for this."

Lance growled as he yanked Hunk's arm and dragged him down the hall.

"Come on, we got to tell Shiro!" he insisted. "Maybe we can catch them before they do something stupid."

Hunk picked up the pace as he followed as all his plans for waffles disappeared from his brain.


	3. Chapter 3

"It feels like this tunnel goes on forever," Pidge remarked darkly as they turned another corner.

"Agreed," Keith said as he held up the small lantern they had brought along. "If it wasn't for this we wouldn't be able to see a thing."

He wasn't sure how long they had been exploring the tunnel, but it was long enough that Keith had assumed they would have run into someone by now.

Pidge sighed as she leaned against the wall. "Okay, I vote for a break. My feet are killing me."

"Sure thing," Keith said with a grunt as he sat on the ground and set the lantern next to him. "I could use one too."

Pidge gave a small smile as she proceeded to sit next to him. "Think the others realized we're gone yet?"

"Most likely," Keith said as he leaned his head back. "And we'll be lucky if Shiro and Allura don't make us run laps all day when we get back."

Pidge chuckled. "Yeah." She then frowned and hugged her knees to her chest. "Listen, I know I already said this, but thanks for doing this."

She rested her head on her knees and turned to look at him. "I really appreciate it."

Keith fidgeted slightly as he drummed his fingers against his elbow. "You're welcome but..I have to admit...I'm kind of here for myself too."

Pidge narrowed her eyes. "Is it so you can talk to Thace?"

"That's part of it," Keith said as he touched his bag. "The other reason...I don't know if I can explain it."

"Try me," Pidge encouraged.

Keith gave a deep sigh. "If I do, you're going to say I'm crazy."

Pidge raised a skeptical eyebrow. "I sincerely doubt that."

"It's not a joke," Keith retorted back.

"And I'm not joking," Pidge replied in the same tone. "Keith, we are in the middle of space, fighting aliens that want to conquer everything with giant mystic robotic lions and we travel in a castle that is also a spaceship."

She held up a finger. "Add to that I have tasted Coran's cooking, there is nothing 'crazy' that I can't handle."

Keith relaxed slightly. That made him feel a bit better, but he was still reluctant.

"Look, if it helps, just think of me as a soundboard," Pidge stated. "It's clear something has been eating at you. Just tell me what it is and I swear I won't pass judgement, okay? Maybe I can help make sense of it."

Keith shut his eyes and felt an encouraging growl from Red. "Alright," he said slowly as he reached for the bag. "Guess it couldn't hurt if I told someone about this."

Pidge scooted closer as Keith reached into his bag. "Remember how I told you I don't know who my dad was?"

"Yeah," Pidge replied, slowly as she straightened her posture.

"I do have one thing from him." Keith brought out the dagger and held it out to Pidge. "My mom told me that he left this for me."

Pidge blinked as she took the dagger and looked it over. "This is the dagger you always carry with you." She raised a bemused eyebrow. "Weird birthday present for a baby though."

Keith gave a small smile in agreement and then it vanished. "Unwrap the hilt," he said as he tapped the bandages.

Pidge did as instructed and saw the carved symbol. She tilted her head in confusion.

"I don't get it, what's the big deal?" Pidge said as she held it up.

"My mom told me I always had to keep that covered so people didn't see it," Keith explained as he crossed his legs. "But isn't there something familiar about the style?"

Pidge frowned as she ran her fingers over the hilt, but then her eyes widened. "Wait, this looks a bit like the style of writing the Galra uses."

"Right," Keith said as he took the dagger. "At first I thought it was a weird coincidence, but then I met Thace." He chewed his bottom lip. "He has a dagger too with the exact same symbol."

"What?" Pidge gasped as she leaned closer. "How?"

"I don't know, I didn't get to ask him," Keith continued, "but Thace also knows a lot about Earth, stuff you would only know if you've been there. He also gave me this weird look at times like he was remembering something, it's hard to explain." He shut his eyes. "Thace even made this soup I swear tasted almost exactly like the kind my mom use to make."

Pidge narrowed her eyes as she absorbed what Keith was telling her. "Keith...are you saying that...Thace is your dad?"

"I don't know...maybe?" Keith grumbled as he leaned back. "The thing is there's other stuff too."

"What stuff? Tell me," Pidge said in an encouraging tone.

"Mom hated to take me to the doctor's as a kid, it's like she was paranoid of them finding something," Keith rambled. "Then there was what happened at the Balmera."

Keith held his hand up and used his other finger to tap to his palm. "I got the hangar to close by just touching the control pad."

Pidge's jaw dropped. "Are you serious?! But only Galra and Galra tech like Shiro's arm can access that?"

"I know," Keith hissed as he made a fist.

"Why didn't you and Lance mention that?!" Pidge exclaimed.

"We just thought the system glitched or something," Keith replied, "but now after meeting Thace and seeing his dagger...I'm wondering if...if-"

"If you're half Galra," Pidge whispered in shock.

Keith sighed and confirmed with a nod.

Pidge was silent as she opened and shut her mouth.

"Pidge?" Keith asked, a little anxious. "Um...what are you thinking?"

"How would that work?" she said aloud as she grasped her chin. "That would mean human and Galra are able to reproduced together, unless maybe you were born in a lab."

"Uh, Pidge?" Keith said as he tapped her shoulder.

"Oh, this means we could have an easier time to access Galra information with both you and Shiro's arm," Pidge continued sounding a bit too excited for Keith's tastes.

"Pidge," Keith growled.

"I wonder if your dad was the one that got pregnant," Pidge continued. "We don't know much about Galra biology-"

"Happy to know my life crisis is something for you to study," Keith snarled as he leaned into his hand.

Pidge ceased her ramblings and blushed slightly. "Oh...sorry, couldn't help it," she said as she leaned back.

Keith relaxed slightly as he put his dagger away. "I got to admit, you took that crazy theory better than I expected."

Pidge's eyes hardened as she sat up. "Keith, did you ever read Sherlock Holmes?"

Keith shook his head.

"My mom loved them and use to read it to Matt and I as bedtime stories," Pidge said with a half smile. "There's one quote I will always remember from it. 'When you eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth'."

She adjusted her glasses. "In short, it's not a crazy theory." She frowned. "Truthfully, with all the evidence it seems likely."

Keith slumped forward. "I was afraid you'd say that."

Pidge patted his shoulder. "Finding out you may be part alien..is a lot to swallow among with everything else we've been dealing with."

Keith shut his eyes. "If I'm honest, I'm less concerned about me dealing with it and more with...what Shiro, and the others will say."

"Why?" Pidge said and then she grunted. "Wait, are you worried we're going to kick you off the team because you didn't get a say on who your daddy was?"

Keith winced, but gave a nod.

Pidge took a deep breath like she did when someone missed something that was obvious to her. She then moved around so she was staring at Keith directly.

"Look at me," she instructed. "We wouldn't do that, we're not just a team we're a family at this point. We wouldn't just abandoned you like that."

Keith's gaze darkened. "How can you say that? The Galra took your dad and brother."

"The empire did, not you," Pidge continued, "and I know Allura, Coran and Shiro would say the same thing." She gave Keith's shoulder a gentle squeeze. "I promise you, you're stuck with us whether you like it or not."

She gave a smirk. "And if ANYONE gives you any grief over it, then they'll have to deal with me and I'm a force to be reckon with."

Keith gave a small chuckle. He knew she wasn't joking. "Alright..thanks, Pidge."

Pidge smiled as she rose to her feet. "How about we keep moving, neither of us are going to get some answers unless we-"

She trailed off as her gazed locked onto the wall.

"Pidge?" Keith asked.

Pidge held her hand out, while refusing to move her gaze. "Lantern."

Keith frowned puzzled, but did as she asked. Pidge took the lantern and scampered a few few steps ahead. She held it up to the wall as she pressed her fingers into a small hole.

"Hold this," she said as she gave Keith the lantern and formed her bayard into a cutter. Pidge then shoved the tip of the blade into the hole and dug it out to make the hole bigger. She stepped back when she was finished and pointed.

"Look at this," she said.

Keith held up the lantern and peered inside. He saw something shiny and metallic like a small lens staring back at him.

"What is that?" Keith said as he got ready to get his sword out.

"I'm betting it's a camera or some kind of motion detector," Pidge said as she took a step back.

Keith's eyes widened. "But that mean they know we're here?"

"Theoretically, yes," Pidge replied as she took another step back. "We better be careful-"

A click was heard as Pidge's foot pressed into the dirt and a net sprang from underneath the girl. Pidge let out a yelp as her bayard dropped from her hands. Before she could retrieve it, Pidge found herself engulfed by the net and hanging upside from the ceiling.

"Pidge!" Keith called as he raced under her. "You okay?!"

Pidge growled as she wiggled to untangled herself. "I would be better if I was back on the ground!"

"Hang on," Keith said as he lifted his sword up to cut the ropes. "I'll get you down!"

Pidge's eyes were suddenly filled with alarm. "Keith! Behind you! Watch out!"

Keith heard footsteps from behind. He whirled around and managed to block a staff from hitting his face with his sword.

The attacker let out a war cry as they lifted they staff again. Keith kicked the attacker's leg and caused the person to stagger slightly.

Keith blinked as he saw who was attacking them. It was a female Galran, and one that barely looked older than himself. She spun her staff in the air and was ready to strike again.

"Easy," Keith said as he held his sword ready. "I don't want to fight you."

"Too bad," the female Galran spat as she encircled Keith, "because I want to fight you."

She let out a war cry and charged again. Keith ducked and dodged the attack. He scrambled to his feet and tried to hit the female Galra, except he was unable to as a pair of arms grappled from behind.

"Maya! I got him!" the attacker from behind cried.

Keith struggled and speedily slammed his back and his opponent into the cave wall. The arms loosened and Keith heard a groan as he turned back. He was slightly stunned to see it was another Galran teen, but a boy this time.

"Ow," the boy muttered as rubbed his head. "Correction..I don't got him."

"My hero," the Galran named Maya grumbled darkly as she swung the staff again. "Daien, just stay back!"

"Will...do…," Daien muttered as he rubbed his skull. "Ow...my head hurts."

Keith decided to tried to rush Maya again, but was stopped as a robotic hand seized his wrist. He tried to break free, but robotic arm refused to budge an inch.

"Drop the sword," a voice demanded from behind him as the hand tightened it's grip.

Keith winced from pain and glanced behind to see the arm belong to another Galran, although this one was far older than the other two and twice their size.

He narrowed his eyes at Keith as he grabbed his other hand. "I said, drop the sword," the Galra commanded, "or you're going to have a few broken bones here, Kid."

Keith struggled, but knew it was pointless and Pidge held the same expression. If he tried to fight, he would only hurt himself and there was no telling what would happen to Pidge.

With a deep sigh, Keith let his sword crash to the ground and watched it returned to it's bayard form.

The older Galra warrior looked relieved and loosened his grip on Keith as he pinned the boy's arms behind his back.

"That's better," he grumbled. "Don't like hurting people if I don't have to-"

"You're the Galra rebels aren't you?!" Pidge exclaimed as she swung from the net and still upside down.

Maya shoved the the tip of her staff in Pidge's face. "What's it to you?! Who are you two and how did you find us?"

"Hey, don't hurt her!" Keith demanded as he struggled, but the older Galran kept his grip.

Maya glared with a huff as she went over to pull Daien to his feet. "You're hardly in a position to give threats-"

"Maya, calm down!" the older Galran shouted and made both Maya and Daien jumped. He then turned his head and looked at Pidge curiously.

"Now then, who are you two?" he said.

"We're paladins of Voltron!" Keith shouted with a grunt. "Look, we're not your enemy!"

"And we're just supposed to believe that?" Maya snarled as she folded her arms.

"..They do look the part," Daien argued, but went quiet as Maya shot him a glare. "Well, they do!"

"It could be a trick!" Maya snapped.

"We're not lying!" Pidge spat.

"And how do we know that?!" Maya asked as she pointed her staff at her again.

"I'll vouch for them," a new voice announced.

Keith froze and turned his head towards the familiar voice as the person stepped out.

"Thace," he muttered. Keith never imagined he would see him so soon.

The old Galarn's face hardened as Thace approached them. "These two the real deal?" he asked.

"They are, Ford," Thace replied as he pointed to Keith. "In fact..the red one is Keith."

Ford's eyes widened slightly and then gave Keith a hard look like he was evaluating him. He then gave a deep sigh and released the boy.

Keith immediately darted back while rubbing his sore wrists. He was certain the guy could have broken his arm if he wanted too. No wonder Shiro was always careful touching them with his cybernetic arm.

"Junior," Ford spoke breaking Keith's train of thoughts, "get the green one down."

"Uh..okay," Daien said as he brought out a knife and went to cut at the rope.

"Ford," Maya hissed with a look of dismay.

"If Thace vouches for them that's enough for me," Ford replied and shook a finger like he was disciplining a child. "So no arguing with me. Got it?"

Maya's grip tightened on her staff, but she gave a sigh. "Yes, Sir."

"Can I PLEASE get down?!" Pidge asked as the net began to spin in circles like a top. "Getting a bit dizzy up here."

"Almost done," Daien said as he finished cutting through the rope. "Although, someone should probably be standing underneath to catch-"

The rope snapped and flew upward as the net and Pidge came crashing down. Keith raced to catch her, but was beaten as Thace reached out and caught her.

Pidge groaned as she rubbed her bottom, and then blinked as she realized who caught her.

"Um..thanks...Thace, right?" she asked.

"Yes," Thace said dryly as he set her down and looked to Keith. "And mind explaining to me why you're here? I told you it was not the time for the rebellion and Voltron to meet."

Keith fidgeted as he stepped forward. "I know...but.."

"Hey, it's not Keith's fault," Pidge said as she stepped in front of him. "I'm the one that convinced him to track you guys and-"

"Enough," Ford declared as he stomped his foot. "You all can straighten that mess out later. Right now, we need to take you two to see Leah so she knows it wasn't an enemy that set off the sensors."

"Leah?" Keith asked.

"The leader of the rebellion," Thace explained as he folded his arms, "and Ford is correct. We'll discuss you being here after you see Leah." He gave a deep sigh. "We're already on edge enough as is."

Keith and Pidge exchanged concerned looks, but neither said anything as Thace pointed ahead. "Follow us, and keep up," he directed. "It's easy to get lost in here."

"Uh, sure," Keith said as he and Pidge picked up the pace. There was no going back now. He just hoped Shiro wasn't going to be too upset with them.

08080808080808080808080808080808080

Shiro rubbed his eyes as he read the note over a second time. "I am going to kill them," he muttered.

"Now, now, Shiro," Coran said as he patted his shoulder. "We still need them alive to pilot the lions."

"This isn't funny," Allura said firmly. "We need to find Keith and Pidge immediately. Anything could have happened to them by now!"

Hunk gave a sigh as he rubbed his neck. "This is my fault. I knew I should have checked up on Pidge yesterday."

"No, it's my fault," Lance retorted with a hiss. "I should have kept a closer eye on the two of them. They were both being too quiet, I should have-"

"We don't have time to play the blame game." Shiro stated and looked to Hunk. "Can you track down Pidge and Keith?"

"Yeah," Hunk replied. "Pidge and I finished installing the new tracking system in the lions the other day."

"Good, then go get suit up and into your lions," Shiro replied, "we're going after them."

"Okay, but I'm going to snag some food while we're doing it," Hunk said. "I'm starving and we never did eat breakfast."

"Uh, yeah, same," Lance said, "and Coran is always saying to never fight evil on an empty stomach."

"That I do," Coran said, cheerfully. "It's not good for your indigestion."

Shiro sighed, but nodded. "Alright, but make it fast."

"Right!" Lance and Hunk said in unison and turned to leave, but was stopped as Shiro touched their arms.

"Also, for the record, neither of you are to blame here," he said gently. "Okay?"

Lance and Hunk frowned, but gave a silent nod before rushing out of the room.

Shiro kept his smile until they vanished and slumped in the control chair. "I'm the one that's to blame here."

"Shiro, no," Allura said as she kneeled next to him. "This is most certainly NOT your fault."

"No, it is," Shiro said as he shook his head. "If I had been more opened minded about finding the Galra resistance from the beginning, Pidge wouldn't have felt the need to go off by herself."

"But we didn't know much about them," Coran said as he typed into the control panel to check a map. "Your decision to not locate them was reasonable."

Shiro gave a bitter laugh. "Was it? I'm not so certain anymore." He stared into his cybernetic hand. "Honestly, I think it was partly due to personal reasons."

"What do you mean?" Allura said as she touched his shoulder.

Shiro shut his eyes. "Zarkon, the Galra, the whole empire have taken so much. A year of my life, my arm, my friends, your planet, and your people." He sucked the air between his teeth. "It's easy to view the Galra as pure evil, to think they're just monsters that suck the good out of everything."

His dropped cybernetic arm into his lap. "But if there's a Galra resistance, Galrans that want to bring peace back to the universe as much as we do..then that means-"

"That they're people and not just nameless monsters," Allura finished and Shiro confirmed with a nod.

She gave a smile as she touched his arm. "I understand perfectly. I can have the same problem." Her voice tightened. "Logically, I know not all Galrans are Zarkon, but it is easy to forget that."

"It's understandable, for both of you," Coran replied. His eyes softened as looked to Shiro directly. "Before the war, I had good friends who were Galran and they were killed when they refused to follow Zarkon."

Shiro's eyes widened slightly. "Coran, I'm sorry. I meant no disrespect-"

"Nothing to apologize for," Coran said and gave a slight smirk. "I do know they would approve of you taking Zarkon on. However, I would ask as a paladin of Voltron, you try to remember that there are Galrans who have suffered by Zarkon's hands as much as everyone else has."

Shiro paused and gave a nod. He knew Coran was right and so did his heart. "Alright, I promise I'll try to do that." He rose from the chair.

"I need to get going," he said as he turned to them. "As soon as we locate Pidge and Keith, I'll get you two an update."

"Yes," Allura said as she rose. "We would join you, but we're in the middle of settling that alliance treaty with Acradius."  
"Which is a bit tricky seeing they rather stay out of the war now that their planet has been freed," Coran stated. "So, could take a while."

Allura's eyes hardened. "With that said, if you find the Galra resistance, please let me know. If there is a chance we can form an alliance with them, then we should take it and we shall try to be there as soon as we can."

"Yes, Princess," Shiro said before he exited the room. A million thoughts were swarming his head, but for the moment he was going focus on just one; finding Pidge and Keith.


	4. Chapter 4

Keith kept close to Pidge as they followed the Galrans down a tunnel. Thace and Ford had taken the lead, and Maya and Daien were behind them. Keith found himself kept glancing to Thace in particular, but if the man notice he certainly didn't let on. It was almost like he made certain to kept his gaze ahead.

"So, how far deep in the mountain are we exactly?" Pidge asked.

"Far enough that we're out of sight," Maya retorted.

"That doesn't really answer my question," Pidge said in a huff.

"Does it matter?" Maya asked.

"It's a fair question," Daien asked meekly and then whispered. "I keep asking it and no one will tell me."

Keith frowned and raised an eyebrow. "Is it possible no one actually knows?"

"Of course we know!" Maya snapped as she folded her arms.

"Oh, yeah?" Pidge said in a mocking tone as she turned around to walk backwards. "Then what is it?"

Maya was silent and refused to look at her.

"You really don't know, do you?" Keith said with a smirk.

"No, I just don't feel like answering," Maya said with a growl. "So, shut up!"

Ford let out a deep tired sigh. "THIS" he said as he gestured to them with his cybernetic arm, "is why I hate dealing with teenagers."

Thace said nothing as they paused at a large steel door. "We're here," he declared and pushed a button on the left. The heavy steel door opened, revealing a huge chamber that was lit up by several lanterns hanging from the ceiling.

Several Galrans and other alien species Keith didn't recognize were scattered throughout the chamber as they rushed around madly. The place echoed with the rebels voices and the clunking sound of metal being worked on.

Keith entered the same time as Pidge and took a moment to gather their bearings. Judging from the size, the chamber seemed big enough to at least house one of the lions. There were several tunnels Keith assumed lead to other smaller chambers.

Pidge took a step forward only to lurched back to avoid being run over as a pair of giggling Galran children.

"Tral! Asor!" Ford shouted. "NO RUNNING IN HERE!"

"Can't stop!" one of the boys shouted as they duck into a chamber. "Having a race!"

Ford muttered under his breath "Boy takes far too much after his father."

Keith blinked in shocked as he grabbed Pidge to steady her. "There are kids here?" he asked.

"Most of the children here have parents who are part of the resistance," Thace explained. "The rest are merely orphans who have been abandoned and we rescued."

"Isn't it kind of a dangerous to have children with the resistance?" Pidge asked as she watched the two children run into a chamber.

"They get a better life here than they would living in the empire," Maya said in a dark tone. "Trust me on this."

The teen Galran held a pained expression and Keith noted Daien carried an almost matching one as she said this.

 _Betting the Galarns themselves suffer under Zarkon too,_ Keith thought.

"Ford, Thace!" a voice called out. Keith turned as saw what looked like a giant rabbit wearing battle armor approaching them.

"Did you you find out what was triggering the alarm…" he trailed off as he locked eyes with Keith and Pidge and twitched a long ear. "Never mind, looks like you did."

"They're paladins of Voltron," Ford explained as he gestured to them.

The rabbit raised an eyebrow as he folded his arms. "Well, got to admit, that was the last thing I was expecting."

"Stig, where's Leah?" Thace asked.

"In the meeting hall," Stig explained as he lead the way. "She and Vector are going over the evacuation plan and what we need for it."

Keith and Pidge exchanged quizzed look as they followed. Keith couldn't resist keeping his guard up as they moved across the chamber. Several of the rebels paused in what they were doing to watch them. Keith swore he could feel every suspicious eye on them waiting for either he or Pidge to make a wrong move.

However, his paranoia was interrupted as Pidge poked his arm.

"Have you noticed?" Pidge whispered. "Maybe it's just me, but I swear there seems to be more female Galra here than I've ever seen in the entire Galra army."

Keith blinked and looked around again at the rebels again. "You're right," he whispered back. Whenever they sneaked onto Galra warships, most of the time they had run into robot sentries, and some of the actual flesh and blood officers were usually male. This was the first time he saw so many females in one spot.

They approached a smaller door to which Thace opened for them. "Leah," he called out. "Pardon the intrusion, but we have visitors?"

Three figures were standing over a table. One of them was a large alien that reminded Keith a bit of a tiger with it's orange fur, round ears and claws. There were also two female Galra standing near. One had long grey hair pulled into a ponytail and looked a fair bit older.

Keith almost thought she was this 'Leah' but then she saw the other Galran. She was much taller, seemed to be about Thace and Coran's age. The way she held herself and immediately straightened her posture upon seeing them reminded Keith of Shiro when they went on diplomatic missions to gain alliances on other planets.

The lady just screamed 'I'm the leader' in her demeanor. It had to be her.

Thace gently poked Keith and Pidge up to the front and stood between them. "These are the Red and Green Paladins of Voltron," he announced.

"Um, hi?" Keith said with an awkward wave.

"Hello," Leah said in a curious tone. "I take it you were the ones in our tunnels?"

"Yeah, guilty as charged," Pidge said in a nervous laugh. "Sorry, for the intrusion, but we didn't see a doorbell."

The older Galran woman snarled. "Why are they here?" she asked. "We have enough to deal with, without-"

"Zelda, not now," Leah growled and sighed. "Forgive her, Green Paladin, but we have been on edge lately."

"You can just call me 'Pidge'," she replied, "and him, Keith."

"Yo," Keith said with a wave that seemed to make Thace twitch slightly.

"Very well," Leah said, sounding amused, "I see you already know the Thace and the others." She pointed to the others behind her. "These are some of my other officers, Zelda and Vector."

"Pleasure to meet you," Vector said, in a female voice that surprised Keith slightly. She offered a nod and frowned, "but if the two of you are here, where is the rest of your team?"

"Not here," Keith explained, "we came by ourselves."

"How?" Vector asked as she ran her claws through her fur.

"I figured out a way to track you," Pidge said.

"I..see," Leah said in a cautious tone. "And where are your lions?"

"Near the base of the mountain," Keith explained. "And they're hidden by some rocks."

"Stig, please go take some troops and make certain that's still the case," Leah ordered. "I don't want to take any chances here and let nothing to happen to those lions."

"Will do!" Stig replied as he turned to leave. "Shouldn't take long."

Leah nodded and then stepped towards the paladins. "Now then, why exactly are you here?" She locked eyes with Thace and looked at Keith in particular. "I was told Thace informed you that we didn't think it was wise for you to seek us now."

"We know," Keith said, "but Pidge and I thought we could change your minds."

Leah gave a deep tired sigh. "I appreciate your reasons, but I'm afraid you couldn't have arrived at a worst time."

Keith raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"We believe that Zarkon and the empire have caught onto our existence," Thace explained. "As a result, we've been trying to keep a low profile and been preparing to move to another planet for a new base."

Keith's eyes widened. "Was it..because you helped us escape?"

"Naw, Kid, at least it's not the main reason," Ford said, but Keith saw he shot Zelda a glare. "This stuff has been piling up for awhile. Thace helping you lot escape was just the latest in a series of clues for them.

"With that said," Leah spoke gently. "I'm sorry, paladins, but I'm afraid we'll have to insist you stay here for the time being." She folded her arms. "I promise, I will hear what you have to say, but my people's safety comes first."

She shook her head. "I can't take a risk of a Galra ship seeing your lions fly from this planet and thus come to investigate what you were doing here, at least not until we're ready to leave."

"That's fine, we understand," Keith said earnestly. "In fact, maybe we can help."

Zelda scoffed as she folded her arms. "I don't see how."

Vector made a sound that sounded a bit like a soft growl. "Perhaps you can," she said as she approached Pidge. "You said you tracked us? How exactly?"

"Well, it took quite a bit of deduction. After looking over the footage, I realized that you had to be using some kind of cloaking device to hide your ships, but knew that the power requirements for those are incredibly high. After that, it was just a matter of locking on to the transmission frequency, and tracing the energy back to the general vicinity of your generators" She gave a shrug. "From there, we just guessed."

Ford groaned as he rubbed his eyes. "See! Haven't I been saying we need to mask that signal better! I knew it was going to bite us in the-"

"Yes, Ford, we know," Thace replied sharply. "There's no need to give a lecture."

"Especially since it's a mistake we're going to correct as soon as possible," Vector said as she locked her gaze onto Pidge. "If you don't mind, perhaps you can help us so we can better mask our signals to prevent this in the future. Our cloaking technology is admittedly a few generations out of date, but perhaps you can provide some fresh insight. If you're able to hide one of the lions of Voltron..."

Pidge gave a cheeky grin. "Sure, I can do that." She glanced to Leah. "If that's okay with your leader that is."

"It's fine with me," Leah replied. "Just be careful to not alert our presence for anyone else that could track us."

She glanced over to Thace. "In the meantime, why don't you give young Keith here a tour of the base." She held a slight smirk. "I'm sure there's much for you two to discuss."

Keith raised an eyebrow as Thace twitched slightly and Ford chuckled under his breath.

"Um, if it's easier, I don't mind," Daien said as he raised a hand.

"Naw, Junior, this is all Thace's job," Ford said as he wrapped an arm around the teen. "Beside, you two are helping me, remember? Those ships aren't going to fix themselves."

"Right, right," Maya muttered dryly as she followed out of the chamber. "Just as long as Daien doesn't drop a pipe on my foot again."

"Once! I did that once!" Daien argued as he was dragged out of the room with Ford.

Keith watched them go until Pidge touched his arm. "Good luck," she whispered as she gave it a pat and went to follow Vector.

Thace then sighed and gestured to the door. "Follow me," he instructed.

Keith took a deep breath as he trailed after him from the door.

08080808080808080808080808080808080

Thace lead him into a chamber that wasn't as big as the main, but still fairly large. There were several tables, chairs and pots hanging on the walls from the far back. He could smell various spices he was certain he smelled Coran and Hunk used in their cooking.

"Where are we?" Keith asked.

"This would be the kitchen," Thace stated as he scooped some kind of vegetable from one of the pots into a bowl. "Knowing you, I assumed you haven't eaten yet."

Keith opened his mouth to say he wasn't hungry, but the growl of his stomach betrayed him. He blushed and coughed as he sat down. "Yeah...guess I could eat."

Thace handed him the bowl along with a spork as he sat across from him. "Does your leader know you're here?"

Keith chewed his bottom lip as he picked up the spork. "Um..we left a note."

Thace grumbled as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "So, I'll take it that as a 'No'."

Keith straightened his posture as he narrowed his eyes. "Look, I know you didn't want us finding you, but it was more than just because we wanted an alliance." He leaned over the table. "Pidge's dad and brother were taken prisoner along with Shiro a year ago, and she was hoping you guys might have information for her."

Thace paused at that and frowned slightly. "I see," he said, softly.

Keith fiddled with one of the vegetables in the bowl. "And..got to admit, I have some questions for you too."

Thace's face was unreadable, but Keith noticed his body went tense.

"There's no point fussing over you finding us, what done has been done," Thace said slowly. "As for finding your friend's family, it's possible we may have information for her, but with the high number of slaves and prisoners in the empire we can't promise anything."

The Galran raised his head. "With that said, I'm certain Leah will have no issue with her asking."

Keith relaxed a bit. _That makes it a bit easier for Pidge at least,_ he thought.

"Now..about me," Keith started, but was cut off as Thace rose from his seat.

"After you've eaten, you can help me with the inventory in the armory," Thace said. "Our priority right now is making certain we're prepared to leave at a moment's notice."

Keith pouted slightly, but nodded. "Alright, fine."

He and Pidge did sprang upon them suddenly. If they wanted to earn the resistance's trust, they both might as well make themselves useful.

"I'll return shortly with the list," Thace said as he left the kitchen.

Keith watched him go before taking a bite out of the meal. It wasn't fantastic, but it wasn't terrible. He imagined Hunk could do something better with it.

He leaned against his hand as he ate. He was hoping he could just ask what he waited to know, but it would probably have to wait a bit. A small part of him felt a bit of relief from that.

080808080808080808080808080808080

Thace shook his head as he left the kitchen. Of all the times for Keith to appear, why did he have to pick now?

"So, that's Keith, huh?"

Thace halted and turned to see Ford leaning with his back against the wall as he fiddled with his beard.

"Weren't you working on repairs?" Thace asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I am, I went to get some extra tools," he said as he held up his toolbox and gestured to the kitchen. "He seems like a brave boy."

"Oh, yes, brave," Thace grumbled. "He's also reckless, hot headed and...why are you smiling like that?"

Ford kept his grin. "Because you just describe exactly how you were at that age and I feel like I'm finally getting some payback."

Thace blinked and then scowled. "...I was nothing like that," he argued.

"You and I both have scars that beg to differ," Ford argued, but then dropped his smile. "Are you going to tell him?"

Thace knew what he was implying and shook his head. "No, this is not the best time for it."

"When will it be?" Ford said as he pointed a finger at him. "The kid needs to know."

"No, he doesn't," Thace replied as he gripped his dagger. "Frankly, it would be a lot easier on him if he didn't."

"Easier for him," Ford said as he leaned in closer, "or easier for you."

Thace kept his stern frown and felt his fingers twitch around his dagger. "I'm not having this conversation. We both have things to do."

"Fine, fine," Ford said as he shrugged and went to leave. "But I'm not wrong, and you know it."

Thace gripped his dagger, but kept staring ahead as he held the hilt of his dagger.


	5. Chapter 5

It had taken a few hours, but Pidge and Vector managed to update their cloaking system so it would be harder for the Galra to detect. Granted, there was a chance the Galra had already figured out their location, but Pidge wanted at least offer some comfort that it would be harder for them to be found once they left for another base.

Pidge had been introduced to what Vector explained was their technical team who were all women. Three Galran women named Silca, Bespeer, Jilka and a bird like woman covered in bright coloured feathers named Tina and they welcomed Pidge with opened arms.

They seemed rather intrigued with how Pidge had managed to track them and quite impressed as she assisted them to update their systems.

Silca finished fixing the last few wires before she removed her goggles. "There, that's as much as we can do right now without new spare parts."

Pidge examined one of the rods that looked like it could be older than the Castle of Lions. "How old is this thing?"

Bespeer, an older Galran woman chuckled. "Depends on how you humans track time," she replied. "But I know it was before my son was born."

Tina hovered a bit like a hummingbird as she finished typing. "We do need new parts though," she said grimly as the feathers on her cheeks fluttered. "But granted, we knew that even before you came."

Pidge frowned. "Where do you guys normally get parts?"

"Junk yards, broken down ships, sometimes one of the intel teams manages to pick up something for us, but it's not often," Jilka explained.

"With us keeping a low profile, getting new parts isn't easy to come by," Vector replied.

Pidge grasped her chin as she went through a mental checklist of what she and Hunk kept at the castle. "We might have something for you guys at the castle, but that castle isn't here."

"Nothing we can do about it now," Silca said as she reattached the part. "All is left to do is the boring part for fine tuning, so you don't have to stay for that."

Pidge felt the eagerness that she had been trying to ignore nag at her again.

"If that's the case, there's something I want to do," she said as she looked to Vector. "I thought maybe you guys might know what happened to my family. They were captured by the Galra last year."

The cheery atmosphere was sucked out and all five women held sympathic expressions. Vector's eyes also softened. "You will have to ask Leah's permission for that," she said with a soft growl as she headed out of the chamber. "Come with me."

Pidge steadied herself as she picked up her bag and followed. Leah hadn't been far. They found her in the main chamber talking with Daien who was looking over a tablet with her.

"Ford wants to know if we need to salvage the old transport ship," Pidge heard Daien say as they approached. "It's not that big and can only hold one person."

"It's one person more that can be flown out of here," Leah said. "So, if Ford is able to repair it do it, but if it's truly a lost cause I rather he focus on the other ships."

Her ears twitched as she spotted Vector and turned to them. "How did it go?"

"The Green Paladin is a smart one," Vector said with a grin. "She managed to fix mistakes we didn't even know we had."

Pidge couldn't resist giving a proud smirk at the compliment.

Leah smiled and looked to Pidge as Daien stared in awe. "That is excellent to hear, thank you."

"You're welcome," Pidge replied and tried to not sound anxious as she spoke. "There's something I want to ask of you."

Leah frowned and Daien blinked curiously. "Oh? What is it?" she asked.

"My father and brother were captured by the empire a year ago," Pidge explained. "Their names were Sam and Matt Holt, I was hoping you might have information on where I could find them."

Leah's face was unreadable, but Daien's eyes widened slightly. "Holt?" he asked.

"That's right," Pidge said with a nod. "I know it's a lot to ask with everything else you have to deal with but-"

"Follow me," Leah said gently as she lead the way. "I'll take you to the archives."

Pidge's heart leapt and didn't waste a moment to catch up on her. She glanced back and saw Vector was already leaving, but Daien was still watching her with the surprise expression.

Probably nothing, Pidge thought as she followed. That guy looks like everything makes him nervous...Hunk would like him.

Leah weaved around the crowd of rebels effortlessly as Pidge struggled to try to avoid hitting anyone. They ventured into a narrow tunnel and they ended up in a small chamber.

There were cabinets and tablets scattered all around, but at the far back sat a large computer. It didn't seem like it was made out of Galran technology. Judging by the shape, and wires sticking out, it almost seemed to be a fusion of various alien technology Pidge wasn't familiar with.

Leah went over, touched the screen and typed on the keyboard. "I'm typing in my password for you," she said as she turned to look back at her. "This computer contains all the files we managed to steal from the empire. However, I'm not certain it will be much use if you can't read Galran."

"That's okay, I'm getting use to translating," Pidge said as she sat in the chair and fetched out her laptop from her bag. "Thanks, I appreciate-"

Leach touched Pidge's shoulder and gave an expression that reminded Pidge of her mother when she had bad news.

"I will warn you," she said, "you're not the first to ask us to locate family who the empire has taken."

She took back her hand and tucked it behind her back. "Very few have been successful and those who have.." Leah held a grim frown. "They are hardly the same person before they were captured."

Pidge swallowed as she thought about how much Shiro had to deal with while held by the Galra, and he was 'the Champion', a favorite slave among them.

"I understand," Pidge said in a determined tone, "but I got to try."

Leah nodded and turned to leave. "If you need anything, just ask. We'll try to help."

Pidge gave a nod as Leah left. She then cracked her knuckles before hooking her laptop up with the main computer. "Okay, Big Guy," she told it, "let's see what you can tell me."

Her fingers began to fly on her keyboard and Pidge tried to toss aside the fear of what she was going to find.

0808080808080808080808080808080808080

Elsewhere, Keith peered inside the crate and mentally counted. "We got twenty more of those..laser guns with the twisted end," he said aloud and looked behind him.

"They're called proton blasters," Thace said as he wrote on his tablet, "but noted."

Keith put the lid back on the crate as he gazed around the armory. It wasn't huge, but it was filled to the brim with spears, swords, some blasters and other alien weaponry he wasn't familiar with.

"Where did you get all of this stuff," Keith asked as he picked up a blue sword with a hooked blade.

"Here and there," Thace said as finished placing some swords into a crate. "We use to buy from suppliers, but when Zarkon almost wiped us out, we tried to be more discrete on how we acquired them."

He raised his head. "Also, careful with that Yeakon sword. That thing can cut a finger off clean and you wouldn't feel it."

Keith paused as he eyed the sword and gingerly set it back on the shop. "When Zarkon tried to destroy you guys, you said that was before I was born?"

And how do you know when I was born? Keith thought.

"Yes," Thace said quietly and didn't turn his head. "It was a devastating attack. We lost a lot of lives that day. Leah lost her father, the previous leader of the resistance, and I was lucky to escape with all my limbs attached."

He went to open up another crate. "After that, it was decided to split up the resistance in smaller cells so if Zarkon destroyed one of them the others could still pick up the fight."

Keith narrowed his eyes as he drew closer. "So, how long have you been with them?"

Thace turned and seemed lost in thought like he had forgotten. "Since I was about your age, if I'm not mistaken."

Keith blinked. "That's rather young to join a rebellion."

"This coming from a paladin of Voltron who's just a child himself," Thace commented dryly.

"I'm not a child," Keith growled.

"No, no, of course not," Thace muttered with a wave of a hand as he finished counting the contents. "Truthfully, I hadn't originally planned on joining. I was just a cadet and accidently stumbled upon them." He had a thoughtful smirk. "Wasn't long after that I decided to join them."

Keith raised a skeptical eyebrow. "How do you stumble upon a rebellion?"

Thace gave a deep tired sigh. "That's a long story," he grumbled. "I will say it's largely due to a 'friend' not realizing he was trying to flirt with the daughter of the rebel leader."

Keith stare with a blank look. "You're joking...No, you're not are you."

And wait, daughter? Keith thought. Does he mean his friend tried to flirt with Leah?

"I wish I was," Thace said in a dark tone.

Keith folded his arms. Huh, so he was about my age? And why does this friend of his bring Lance to mind? ...I wonder how much Thace and I do have in common.

"We're almost done in here," Thace said as he checked over his tablet.

Keith opened and shut his mouth as he followed. "Sure," he said and cleared his throat. "Then maybe you can tell me more about your dagger there."

Thace paused and didn't look back. "There's...nothing interesting about my dagger."

Keith's face hardened. "Really? Because I have-"

"Those weapons aren't going to count themselves," Thace said as he marched forward. "Let's go."

Keith gave a pout, but did as he was told. I'm going to get an answer from you one way or another, he thought.

080808080808080808080808080808080

Pidge could feel her eyesight starting to blur and took a moment to rub them before she returned to look at the screen. She had found multiple possible locations where slave labor camps were located (and made plans for Voltron to free the slaves from them later), but none of them gave any indication of where her father and brother were kept.

"There's got to be a clue somewhere," she muttered.

"Um..excuse me."

Pidge paused, bringing her thoughts back to the real world and glanced behind her.

Daien stood there with a clay cup of something in his hands. "I..thought you might be thirsty so I brought you some water."

"Oh, uh, thanks," Pidge said and pointed to the cabinet next to her. "Just leave it here and I'll get it later."

Daien gave a shaky nod and placed it where Pidge pointed. She assumed he would leave then, but Daien remained where he was.

"Sorry about the net and Maya attacking you, and Keith," he stammered.

"It's okay," Pidge said without taking her eyes off the screen.

Please don't tell me he wants to make small talk, Pidge thought. On a regular day, such a thing wouldn't bother her, but she was in no mood for it when she was so close to finding a lead.

"Maya's a lot nicer than she seems," Daien continued. "She just doesn't like to show it."

"Good to know," Pidge said, curtly.

"Um..she also has all of these tunnels memorized," Daien continued. "So she could-"

Pidge slumped as she sighed deeply before cutting Daien off. She had no patience for this.

"Do you need something?" Pidge asked, in her 'don't mess with me' tone. "I don't mean to be rude, but I'm pretty busy right now."

Daien fidgeted under her gaze, but then shocked Pidge as he took a seat next to her. "Earlier..you said your name was 'Pidge', right?" he asked.

"Yeah," Pidge said, slowly. Did the guy have an issue with her name?

"Well, you also said you were looking for your father, Sam Holt. So, I wondered...maybe," he raised his head at her. "You're..name...isn't also Katie Holt is it?"

Pidge's fingers ceased her rapid typing. She found her thoughts frozen as she gradually turned to the young Galran who was squirming quite a bit.

"How. Do. You. Know. That. Name?" she asked as her body tensed.

"Um...well, he told me," Daien replied.

"WHO told you?" Pidge asked as she desperately tried to keep calm.

"Your father," Daien stammered as he raised his head to look at her. "He told me."

Pidge sprang from her chair and grappled onto Daien's shoulders. "You saw my dad? How? Where is he? Is he okay?!"

"I-I don't know!" Daien exclaimed.

"How do you not know?!" Pidge snapped as she shook him.

"I haven't seen him since I was told to shoot him!"

Pidge paled. "What?!"

Daien's eyes widened and he slapped his forehead. "Wait, no! That's not what I meant. Arrg, I'm not explaining this right!"

Pidge panted and forced herself to take a deep breath. Be logical, be logical she told herself as she reluctantly let go of Daien. Causing him to panic wouldn't help either of them.

"Sorry," she said as she raised her head. "Start at the beginning."

Daien relaxed slightly and scratched at his ears. "Where do I even start?" he muttered and shut his eyes. "It's a long story."

"I got time," Pidge said and glared to indicate if he dare tried to move she was going to pin him.

Daien fidgeted as he sighed. "Alright, okay," he began as he folded his hands into his lap. "See, I was appointed as a guard for a work camp. My job entailed keeping the slaves under control and 'discipline' them if they didn't obey."

He gave a wince. "I never had the stomach to hurt people, my family always considered me weak for it. Only got the job there because my father was the one running the place. He thought it would 'toughen me up' as he put it."

Pidge had a thought where he was going with this, but she kept quiet and encouraged him to continue.

"I hated it," Daien said as his fingers dug into his pants. "Chaining the slaves, being forced to starve them and whip them when it was clear they were in no shape to work. I couldn't stand it. So, when I was on guard duty for the prison cells, I tried to sneak them some medical supplies and extra food."

He frowned and his ears lowered slightly like a cat. "It wasn't a lot, but I had to do something."

Pidge folded her arms. "And how did the prisoners there take it?"

"They all believed it was some kind of trick, not that I blame them," Daien admitted. "I was about to give up trying, but then one of them decided to take a chance and trust me. He was an older man, and an alien species I've never seen before."

He raised his head and held a serious glint in his eyes. "His name was Sam Holt."

"My dad," Pidge said with a soft gasp.

"Yeah, after him the other slaves began to trust me too and take the stuff I was offering." Daien gave a bittersweet smile. "I liked Sam. I found he was a lot easier to talk to than my own father. We got to discussing about a lot of different things, culture, space travel, stuff like that and he mentioned you quite a few times."

Pidge swallowed. "He did."

"He said you were a smart girl, and that he was so proud of you." He paused. "He mostly said that he missed you and your mom a lot."

Pidge's throat tightened. I've missed him a lot too.

"I tried to locate your brother for him," Daien continued and grimaced, "but I didn't know his slave number and didn't have any luck. It wasn't long after that my father found out what I had been doing."

Pidge froze and was almost scared to ask. "What did he do?"

"Gave me an order," Daien said with a growl. "Said that he was tired of seeing me be weak and my loyalty to Zarkon had to be tested." He raised his head and took in a gulp of air. "I had to shoot Sam and the other slaves that trusted me, or I would be branded as a traitor and executed."

Pidge's whole body was shaking now. "D..Did you kill them?"

"No," Daien spat. "I refused, but made my father believe I was going to, which bought me enough time to try to break Sam and the others out of the camp."

Pidge's mouth opened slightly. "You helped him escape? Wait, why aren't you with them?" Was it because her father was killed during the breakout?

"The other guards caught on quick," Daien continued as his hands shook. "I never been so scared in my life, but I told Sam and the others to run while I tried to hold them off."

Pidge's nose wrinkled. "Dad left you?" That didn't sound like her dad at all. He wouldn't abandoned someone like that without a second thought.

"He didn't want to," Daien retorted. "He would have stayed with me if one of the other slaves hadn't dragged him away towards the ship."

He rubbed his neck. "Not surprisingly, I couldn't hold the guards off for long and I would have been killed if Maya hadn't jumped in and saved me."

"Maya?" Pidge asked. What did she had to do with all of this?

"She was there gathering information and saw what I was doing," Daien said with a shrug. "Thought I would be a good recruit for the rebellion and that's how I ended up here."

"What about my dad and the other slaves?" Pidge said nervously, not certain if she wanted the answer.

"They got to a transport ship and left the camp," Daien replied, as he held up his hands. "That's as far as I know, I swear. I haven't been able to locate him since."

Pidge was silent as her mind processed what she heard.  
Dad's alive! Dad's alive!

She felt tears form and tried to wipe them away, but more came. She tried to cover her mouth to keep from sobbing in relief.

Daien shifted uncomfortably and then rose. "I..can tell you need to be alone," he said. "Sorry if I upsetted you, but I knew I had to tell you." He turned to leave, but Pidge seized his hand to stop him.

Daien jerked slightly and stared in shock. Pidge raised her head and cleared her throat.

"Thank you, for freeing my dad," she whispered. "That was a brave thing to do."

"No, it wasn't," Daien said with a shake of the head and refused to look at her. "It was the right thing to do, but you're welcome."

Pidge would have argued differently, but gave a nod as she let him go. Pidge watched him leave and leaned back in her chair. Tears leaked from her eyes, but she didn't care as she smiled. Her father was alive and she was going to find him.


	6. Chapter 6

Shiro frowned as he surveyed the area. Rocks, dirt, some local purple foliage and they were at least hidden by the rocky terrain.

Shiro tapped the intercom in his helmet again. "Pidge? Keith? Can you hear me?"

Static was the only thing that answered. He didn't like this.

"Maybe they took off their helmets," Lance offered as he leaned against one of the large boulders.

"Could be, but I'm betting something is scrambling our signals," Hunk said as he checked the scanner he brought along and whacked it again. "I can barely pick up the lions' signals and we're standing only a few feet away from them."

Shiro's gaze hardened as she glanced to where both the Red and Green Lion were hidden. "They can't have gone far without their lions," Shiro said as he began to pace, "unless they were captured."

"Maybe they managed to find the rebels," Lance offered.

"Could be," Shiro said, softly. "We better give Allura an update and then-"

"Hey!" Hunk cried as he suddenly pointed. "What are you doing there?!"

Shiro and Lance spun around. A figured peeked out from one of the dozen caves and ducked back inside as they were spotted.

"Wait, come back!" Lance called.

Shiro didn't waste a beat. He ran at top speed with Lance and Hunk both behind them. They reached the cave entrance just as they heard feet run to the right up ahead.

"Stay close to me," Shiro ordered as they dashed inside. "We don't want to get lost in here!"

"Don't have to tell me twice!" Hunk said as he panted.

The cave was dark and hard to see, so Shiro had to rely on his ears as they pushed ahead. Thankfully, they proved to be able to move faster and saw a dark figure up ahead.

"Stop!" he called out. "We just want to talk!"

The figure didn't listen and Shiro sighed. "Sorry about this," he called as he leaped forward and grappled onto the figured.

An angry grunt was heard as they fell over and Shiro swiftly pinned the person's arms. The person yelled and struggled, but Shiro kept his hold and tried to make sure he didn't injure him.

"Easy, I don't want to hurt you," Shiro said as Hunk and Lance caught up. "Hunk, can you give me some light?"

"Sure," Hunk said as he reached for a flashlight and switched it on. The light revealed that they had caught a young male alien that looked like Rolo's species.

"Get off me!" the youth grunted as he tried to kick Shiro off.

"Hey, Buddy, relax," Lance said as he kneeled. "We're just trying to locate some friends of ours."

"Afraid you found way more than that, Lad," a voice boomed.

Shiro raised his eyes and was blinded as the room with flooded with light. As his vision cleared he saw they were surrounded by lanterns and the people holding them. He noted plenty of them were Galra and had weapons pointed straight at them.

Shiro flinched and he felt dark memories trying to fight their way to the surface of when he was first captured. However, they managed to be subdued as a large alien rabbit stepped forward and broke the memories hold on him.

Hunk blinked and pointed confused. "Um..is anyone else seeing a giant Easter Bunny standing in front of us, right now?"

Lance raised a hand. "Um, I do."

"Oh, good, not just me," Hunk replied as he gripped his stomach. "Was afraid it was the goo I ate earlier."

Shiro said nothing as he released the alien youth and watched him run to the safety of the rabbit's side as he stood.

"Look, we don't want to fight," Shiro said as he raised his hands up and narrowed his eyes. "Are you guys the Galra resistance?"

The alien rabbit stepped forward and eyed Shiro like he was interrogating him. "And how do you know about that?"

"We're the paladins of Voltron!" Lance cut in as he waved his arms. "We're on your side!"

Mummering could be heard among the group and one Galarn youth scratched his head. "Wait, there's more of them?!"

All eyes turned to focus on him as a nearby female Galran rolled her eyes. "Yes, of course there are more."

"But I thought Voltron was operated by two paladins."

An alien with four eyes stared at him in shock. "Why would there only be two paladins?!"

"One for the top and one for the bottom," the Galran replied simply.

"What?! No, there's five," the four eyed alien exclaimed. "Two legs and three arms!"

Shiro, Hunk and Lance exchanged a puzzled expression.

"Um..actually," Hunk said as he stepped forward, "Voltron has two arms, Dude."

The four eyed alien scratched his head. "What? But then why do you need the fifth one?"

"For the head!" Lance said as he pointed to Shiro. "How could you forget the head?"

"My people don't use our heads much!" the alien replied in a huff.

"Well, that much is obvious," Lance muttered as he rolled his eyes.

"Alright, enough," the rabbit said as he rubbed massaged his forehead and looked at them. "You three are coming with us, and see if the other two can identify you."

Shiro frowned. "Other two? You mean, Keith and Pidge? So, they are with you?"

"How about you follow me and find out," the rabbit said as he lead the way.

Shiro's gaze hardened, but gestured for Hunk and Lance to move ahead.

Keith, Pidge, Shiro thought. Please be okay.

0808080808080808080808080808080

Keith grunted as he carried the crate through the tunnel Thace told him to take where the ships were stored. He did as he was told and frankly Keith needed the distraction. He understood it was more important to ensure the rebels were prepared to flee, but every now and then, Keith would try to bring up a question and Thace would instantly changed it.

The first two times, Keith could assume it didn't mean anything, but by the fourth time, he knew Thace was just trying to avoid the questions entirely. He dropped the crate on the floor and winced at the loud clang.

"It be easier to get this crate to talk than Thace," Keith muttered as he wiped the dirt from his hands.

"Hey, careful with that stuff," Ford cried as he poked his head from under a ship. "I got enough junk to fix around here as is."

Keith glanced and sheepishly rubbed his neck. "Sorry," he muttered. "Just a bit frustrated."

Ford gave him a quizzed looked as he rolled himself out from under the ship and stepped off the wheeled board he'd been sitting on.

"Then how about we put that frustration into a good use," he said as he reached into his tool box and brought out a purple tool that resembled a hammer.

"Here," he said as he handed the tool to Keith. "See those bolts?"

Keith looked to where Ford pointed and saw on the side of the ship were bolts were sticking out. "Those one there?" he asked.

"Pound them in," Ford instructed as he brought out another tool. "I need to test the strength of the side paneling, while you do that."

Keith gripped the tool and suddenly the idea of pounding something felt very inviting. He picked up the tool and began to hammer it in.

The two of them worked silently as Keith banged and Ford used a scanner over the ship. After a found minutes, Keith's hands began to feel sore, but he could feel his frustration fade. He panted as the last bolt was hammered in and wiped the sweat off his face.

"Thanks," Keith said, while panting. "I needed that."

Ford gave a silent nodded as he read over his scanner. "Alright, this one's done." He gave a deep sigh. "Only a handful more to go."

Keith frowned as he glanced back to the other ships. They weren't much bigger than some transport ships he'd seen. The rust on some of them hinted that they weren't that new either. They would not be Keith's choice for flying into a fight with.

"You guys don't have any ships for fighting?" Keith asked.

Ford sighed. "We do, but only a couple," Ford explained as he scratched his head with his cybernetic arm. "If it was just a case of having to defend against one ship that be different, but Leah wants to ensure we can get everyone out fast as possible and these transport ships are faster."

Keith frowned as he sat on a crate. "It is your guys base though? Shouldn't you at least try to fight back?"

Ford turned and suddenly held a weary expression. "Thace told you that Zarkon almost wiped us out before, right?"

Keith nodded.

"We tried to fight to the death then, but we were outnumbered and we paid a heavy price for it," Ford explained and winced. "Lost a lot of good friends that day, and even after we regrouped we're still not at the high numbers we were back then. None of us wish to go through that again."

Keith rubbed his neck, suddenly wishing he hadn't brought it up. Thace had mentioned they lost a lost of people, but it didn't strike him just how severe until now. It was hard enough to believe he had lost Shiro for that long miserable year, he couldn't imagine what it was like to lose that many friends in one day. Although, Allura and Coran could probably relate.

"Sorry," Keith muttered. "Wasn't thinking."

Ford shook his head. "In my old age, I've learned there's no point dwelling what you've lost."

He shook a wrench at Keith. "You also learn there's a time to fight and a time to run, and we're certain now isn't the time to fight." He gave a smirk. "Although, that's a lesson Thace had to learn the hard way himself."

Keith frowned. "Really?" He drummed his fingers against his elbows. "How long have you've known him?"

Ford gave a chuckled as he reached for some scrap metal. "Believe it or not, I've known him since he was a kid. I used to work for his father as his mechanic and for the 'Glory of the Empire' back when I was young, and stupid."

He pounded the metal with his arm to straighten it. "I faked my death when I decided to join the resistance and never thought I see Thace again until he ended up joining too."

Keith fingers twitched as he reached for his bag. If Ford had known Thace for that long, maybe he could tell Keith something. "Ford, can I ask you something?"

Ford paused in his pounding and gave a skeptic eyebrow. "Depends what that is?"

Keith brought out his dagger and unwrapped the hilt. "Ever see a dagger like this before?"

Ford frowned thoughtfully and ran a hand through his beard as his cybernetic handed picked it up. "Well, haven't seen one of these for a long time," he muttered and gave it a swung. "Few people keep these around."

"Is it special?" Keith asked curiously.

"It's a clan dagger," Ford explained and pointed to the symbol. "Before Zarkon, the Galra used to be divided up into different clans and each one had their own symbol." He tapped to the hit. "If I remember correctly, this symbol represented the mountain clan, but I could be mistaken."

Keith's body tensed. "So, it's a Galra dagger?"

That meant the dagger didn't come from Earth. It would explain why his mother told him to hide the symbol. Probably afraid of someone from the Garrison clueing in it was alien.

"It's Galran as much as I am," Ford said as he picked up the scrap metal. "However, Zarkon dissolved the clans so we're all 'one big happy family'," Ford said darkly. "The symbols are mostly used for decoration these days, but some still hold onto weapons with their clan symbol engraved as heirlooms."

Heirlooms, Keith thought. As in stuff family passed down?

"Where did you get that dagger?" Ford asked, curiously.

Keith chewed his bottom lip. "It used to belong to my dad," Keith said as he held up the dagger. "And..I noticed Thace has a dagger with the same symbol."

Ford froze at the statement.

"Ford," Keith said slowly. "Do you know if-"

Ford held up his hand. "Nope, I'm stopping you right there. I'm not getting involved in that mess."

Keith narrowed his eyes. "So you do know something?"

Ford's eyes hardened and he held up a finger. "Kid, let's be honest here, even if I do know something, am I the person you should be asking?"

Keith opened and shut his mouth with a growl. "No, but…Thace keeps dodging my questions."

Ford gave a huff. "Yeah, well, Thace can be a real stubborn idiot sometimes."

"Keith!"

Keith turned and saw Pidge racing towards them. "Geez, finally found you! I looked everywhere for you," she said while panting.

Keith swiftly put his dagger away and straightened his posture. "What's wrong?"

Pidge gave a nervous laugh. "Time for us to face the piper." She scratched her cheek with her finger. "Shiro, Lance and Hunk just showed up and are talking to Leah."

"Oh," Keith said softly as he ran a hand through his hair and looked to Ford. "Don't suppose we can hide out here with you?"

"You could," Ford said, "but I imagine your leader will track you down eventually."

Keith sighed as Pidge tugged at his arm. "Let's go and get the lecture over it," Pidge said as she lead the way.

Keith gave a nod as he picked up his bag with his dagger inside. Might as well deal with one problem at a time.

08080808080808080808080808080808080

Keith saw Thace had already beaten them to the meeting room. He was standing next to Leah who was in the middle of a conversation with Shiro with Hunk and Lance standing next to him.

"So, you can understand the predicament we're under," Leah said.

Shiro had his helmet removed and was rubbing his chin in thought. "Yes, but if you let me contact the Princess, we might be able to help you out."

Hunk glanced over and spotted Keith and Pidge. "Hey, there you two are!" he cried as he moved over.

"Hey, Hunk," Pidge said as he approached. "Glad to see you made it-OW!"

Hunk gave both Keith and Pidge a hard bonk on the on head with his his hands. Keith stared in shock as he rubbed his sore head. "What was THAT for?!" he asked. It wasn't like Hunk to hit someone like that.

"THAT was for running off without telling any of us!" Hunk scolded with a frown. "Do you have any idea how worried we were! I could barely eat! Well...okay, I ate a little, but that was only for the purpose of giving me fuel to find you, and to not try to picture what had happened to you two. And you DON'T want to know what I was thinking because I have a very vivid imagination-"

"Okay, okay, we get the point," Pidge said with a guilty look. "We're sorry."

"You better," Lance said as he peeked around Hunk. "I mean, I can understand not telling Shiro, but geez how could you leave us out of it? Now Keith is going to have 'finding the rebel base' over my head too."

Hunk gave a disapproving glare. "Kind of miss the point of what I was saying, man."

Shiro calmed Hunk by putting a hand on his arm. "That's enough, Hunk," Shiro said gently and locked his eyes with Keith and Pidge. "But WE are going to have a chat later, and you two are going to get some extra drills, and chores when we get back to the castle."

"Noted," Keith said with a grimace, "Shiro, we're sorry, but we can't leave-"

"We know," Shiro said as Leah and Thace drew closer. "Leah was just informing us about the situation."

"Your leader has agreed to assist us," Leah replied as she looked to Shiro, "which would be appreciated."

"Hey, no biggie," Lance said with a grin as he waved his hands, "we can fit a whole bunch of you guys on our lions and away we go."

"It's not that simple," Thace replied sternly. "We also have weapons, ships, databases that we have to transport and we don't dare leave it behind."

"If Zarkon or the empire were to find evidence of us they could use it to locate the other rebel cells," Leah explained.

"So, we need gather everything up and load them on the ships?" Hunk asked.

"Yes, not to mention we're in the middle of repairing those ships," Thace replied.

"We'll do what we can for you," Shiro said as he touched Pidge and Keith's shoulders. "However, if you'll excuse me for a moment I need a private word with my paladins."

"By all means," Leah said with a nod. "I have my own duties to attend to. Once you're ready Thace here can instruct what you need to do."

Shiro gave a nod as he lead Pidge and Keith out of the meeting room. Keith felt more dread come as Shiro lead them to a small unoccupied corner of the main chamber. Some of the other rebels glanced at them, but it only lasted a moment before they once again became engrossed with their own task at hand.

"Alright, you two," Shiro said, sternly. "Hunk beat me to it, but you know it was dangerous to go off on your own."

Keith sighed. "Shiro, we're sorry, but I knew if I didn't go with Pidge she was going to go by herself and I thought it was better for at least one person to go with her."

"He's not wrong," Pidge said as she folded her arms. "Still, I am sorry we worried you guys, but I felt like we had no other choice."

Shiro sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "I will take some of the blame for that," he admitted quietly and he looked to Pidge.

"You were right, I should have been more opened minded about the rebels." He flinched as he glanced to the other Galrans in the main chamber with them. "I have to admit, I'm a bit..reluctant to trust other Galra, especially ones we don't know."

Keith could understand that, especially coming from Shiro. "If it helps..I do feel at least we can trust Thace a bit. He did save me when I got stranded on the forest planet."

Shiro frowned and pointed back to the meeting hall with his thumb. "The male Galran in there, that's the same Thace, right?"

"Yeah," Keith replied. "That was him."

"Okay, good to know," Shiro said as he shut his eyes and took a deep breath. "Alright, so for now let's focus on helping these rebels and let's all agree we were wrong here."

"Great, let's do that," Pidge said as she touched Shiro's arm. "Because I got big news." Her eyes softened. "Shiro, my dad's alive."

Both Keith and Shiro blinked in shock. "He is?" Shiro asked and touched Pidge's shoulder with his human arm. "Where?"

"That's the tricky part," Pidge said. "One of the rebels here, Daien, he helped my dad and a bunch of other slaves escaped, but he doesn't know where they went."

"Hold it," Keith said in disbelief. "Daien? That guy that tried to pin me and I slammed into a wall?"

Pidge nodded. "Yup and I know he's not lying." He fidgeted as she looked back to Shiro. "He asked me if my name was 'Katie' because my dad mentioned me to him, and I know I haven't mentioned it here to anyone else at all."

Shiro still looked stunned and then smiled as he pulled Pidge into a tight hug. "That's fantastic," he whispered. "I'm so relieved."

"Me too," Pidge said as she gave a squeeze back. "Hopefully, I'll find a lead on Matt too."

Keith patted her shoulder as he smiled. He was glad their mission had been worth it for that alone.

Their hug was interrupted as a Galran rebel accidentally bumped into them. He dropped the box he was carrying and watched as various medical supplies were spilled over.

"Oh, sorry," he said as he bent to pick up some of the package syringes. "Didn't see you guys there. In a rush to get to the healing chamber with this stuff."

Shiro's body tense as his eyes locked onto the syringes in the guy's hands. He gripped his prosthetic arm and looked prepared to fight. Sensing the tension, Keith jumped in front of Shiro and kneeled to pick up the rest of stuff.

"Don't worry about it," Keith said as he handed it to him. "Need some help?"

"Naw, I got it," the guy said, and thankfully didn't seem to notice Shiro's reaction. "Thanks, though."

Keith watched Shiro as the Galran left and saw Shiro didn't lessen the grip on his arm until the Galran was out of sight.

"Shiro?" Pidge said as she touched his human arm. "You okay?"

Shiro shook his head and rubbed his eyes. "Yes..um..sorry," he muttered and forced a grin. "I'm fine, really."

Keith gave a skeptical glare. "You're certain? Because you don't seem fine."

Shiro breathed deeply as he glanced around the chamber and his hands formed into fists.

"No, you're right, I'm not okay" he said softly looked to Pidge and Keith. "Guys, I'm sorry but I need to get some air." He pointed to where Hunk and Lance were waiting. "Go regroup with Hunk and Lance and talk to Thace."

He turned around to leave. "If you need me I'll be inside the Black Lion." He took another deep breath. "I need to clear my head."

"Alright," Keith said, with a curt nod and didn't dare question it. "Let us know if you need anything."

Shiro waved to acknowledge that he heard him as he walked off. Keith still watched him as he and Pidge went to join their other paladins. Lance was leaning against the wall, and raised his head in concern as he looked over their heads to where Shiro went.

"Where is Shiro going?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"He went to sit in Black for a bit," Pidge said as they watched Shiro leave the chamber. "I think seeing all the Galra here is bringing back some bad memories for him."

"Throw in the fact that we're in enclosed tight spaces," Hunk added and cringed, "and yeah that seems likely."

Keith folded his arms in thought. "We'll probably have to spend the night here," he said. "I'm not sure how Shiro will handle that."

They all knew Shiro did woke up from nightmares constantly. It wasn't uncommon for one of the paladins to find Shiro wide awake in his room in the middle of the night and sit with him to calm him down. They had even started to secretly take turns of checking up on him while they slept. That was going to be harder to do in a place like this and it was possible it was going to make his nightmares worse.

The small rooms and tunnels could feel way too similar to prison cells, especially in the middle of the night. Didn't help with Galrans right outside their door either.

"Probably not great, I wager," Pidge added. "What are the chances Allura and Coran can bring the castle here?"

"We just gave her an update," Lance explained. "They're tied up at the moment with that alliance with Acradius, and since they just can't say they need to leave to help without mentioning the secret rebel, they have to stay put for now."

Keith snarled. "So, that's out," he muttered. "That's going to make it tricky."

"Maybe he can sleep in Black," Hunk said with a shrug. "It's not the most comfortable, but she has a heater, it's safe and he would be happier there."

That's true, Keith thought. Wouldn't be the first time we had to sleep in our lions either.

They had been missions in the past where the safest place for the paladins to sleep was in their lions. Add to the equation that the lions didn't need sleep and would mostly likely keep an eye on Shiro, and it seemed like the best option.

"That could work," Pidge said as she tapped her foot. "Frankly, that's probably our best option."

Lance clapped his hands. "Well then, in the meantime," Lance said as he gave a sly grin and rotated his shoulders. "I believe it's time I introduce myself to some of these lovely ladies around."

Keith's eyes widened. Uh oh, he thought. Should have known he notice the number of women here. "Uh, Lance, I don't think-"

"Too late," Hunk said as he pointed at Lance who walked off with Maya already in his sights. "He's locked onto one."

Pideg snickered as she leaned against Hunk. "Oh, this will be good."

Keith wasn't so certain, and stayed alert as Lance approached Maya as she was carrying a large crate.

"Hey, there," Lance said with his best sly grin as he leaned against a wall. "If you're as strong as you are beautiful, I'm amazed you're not running this place."

Maya paused and blinked in confusion. "Huh? What does my beauty have to do with anything?"

Lance's smile faltered slightly, but still refused to give up. "What I mean is that you're very strong and also pretty."

Maya tilted her head. "Then why didn't you just straight up say that?"

"Because you're worth the extra flattery," Lance said with a wink.

"What?" Maya said with a raised eyebrow. "I don't get you."

The Hunk and Keith groaned in unison as Pidge chuckled. "Sorry, but Lance is trying to flirt with you," she explained.

Maya raised an eyebrow and looked Lance over. "In that case here," she said and dropped the crate into Lance's hands, in which he barely caught it. "If you got time to flirt, you got time to help me carry these."

Lance grunted as he struggled to keep his grip. "This thing weighs a ton. What's in here?"

"Bombs," Maya said as she picked up another crate.

All the paladins jumped in alarm. "What?"

"They're not activated," Maya said coolly as she walked and paused in front of Lance. "That is, as long as you don't drop them."

Lance forced a smiled. "Uh, that's a joke, right?"

Maya gave a smirk. "Sorry, but I'm not as 'funny' as I am beautiful," she said as she walked off.

Lance gave a pout, but said no complaints as he followed her.

"That could have ended a lot worse," Pidge commented, thoughtfully.

"Indeed," Thace said as he approached and caused Hunk to jump.

"Whoa, dude, you are good at sneaking up on people," Hunk replied as he placed a hand over his heart.

Thace said nothing as he kept his eyes on Lance.

Keith tilted his head at him. "Something wrong?"

"Nothing important," Thace replied, "it's merely the Blue Paladin reminds me of a friend of mine."

"Oh, yeah?" Hunk asked. "Who exactly?

Thace shook his head. "Someone who I pray never meets the Blue Paladin in person."

Hunk and Pidge looked to Keith for an explanation, but all he could do was shrug.

"Where is the Champion?" Thace asked.

Keith fidgeted at that. "He..went outside to get some air."

He hoped Thace wouldn't ask any further, but all the Galran did was give a concerned frown and nodded.  
"Understood," he said and looked over his tablet. "Ford has requested some assistance with the ship repair, so I'll bring you three there."

"Ford?" Hunk asked with a quizzed look.

"Old Galran guy with a cyber arm," Keith explained and shrug. "Bit grumpy, but he's alright."

"I would suggest you not say grumpy in front of him," Thace warned.

Pidge raised an eyebrow. "Because he find it an insult?"

"No, because he would consider 'grumpy' to be an understatement," Thace said as he lead the way.

The paladins said nothing as they followed and tried not to laugh at Lance who was now carrying two crates at once.

0808080808080808080808080808080808080

Inside the cockpit of the Black Lion, Shiro was gripping his head as he struggled to breath.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he repeated to himself.

Breathe, Shiro, Black encouraged. Don't think of anything else, just breathe.

Shiro did as asked and continued to do so until he felt much more stable. Black growled gently and he felt her warm presence wrap around him like a blanket until his heart began to beat normally again.

Better?, Black purred in his head for comfort.

"Yeah," Shiro said as he swallowed some air. "A lot."

May I ask what happened?

Shiro leaned back and shut his eyes. "I saw a Galran carrying syringes and well," he gripped his cybernetic arm. "Brought back some memories of when I lost my arm."

That memory was still in bits in pieces. All he knows was that he was strapped to a table as he kicked and screamed, but black out when a druid poked his arm with a syringe. He woke up to find his human arm gone and the prosthetic in it's place.

"Logically, I know the guy meant nothing by it," Shiro said as he leaned against his hands, "but I couldn't help, but be afraid it was going to happen again."

He shook his head. "Also, the dark caves and the number of Galra in there...reminds me a lot of the prison too."

They are not the same Galra though, Black said.

"No," Shiro replied, as he shook his head. "It's easy to say that, but still can't help. I feel like I need to keep my guard up."

Black purred again to relax him. But you are going to help them?

Shiro nodded. "These guys are Galran, but they haven't done anything to make me suspicious of them. It wouldn't be right to ignore them."

And that is why you are my paladin, Black encouraged. Still, I might suggest you spend the night here with me.

Shiro sighed. "I should stay where the others are to keep them safe." It made him nervous to have his team out of arm's reach where he couldn't protect them.

They are safe, and you are only outside with me, Black replied. They will understand and are more than capable to watch each other, if such a danger did rise.

Shiro swallowed, but gave a nod. "You're right, I know you are."

Black continued to purr and Shiro leaned back in his chair as he reminded himself that in this moment, he was safe.


	7. Chapter 7

The rest of the day pass by in a busy blur. Before Keith or the other paladins realized it, the planet's three moons had risen and it was best they get some sleep.

Keith hadn't been able to be alone with Thace again to speak with him privately, which annoyed him, but it couldn't be helped. Shiro did return to check with the other paladins, and did say he was going to sleep in the Black Lion for the night.

Keith noted he seemed reluctant to do so, but Keith and the others reassured him they would be fine and yes they would contact him if something happened. Leah had assigned all four paladins into one large chamber with four cots.

Keith would have prefered a bit more privacy, but he knew sticking together would make Shiro more comfortable. Not to mention the rebels were limited for space as is. According to Thace it was a miracle they managed to find four extra cots for them to avoid sleeping on the ground.

For the most part, Keith slept fine, however with all the cots tightly close together he awoke to find Lance's foot in his face. He jerked slightly as he shoved the foot away, but much to his chagrin, Lance didn't even blink an eye as he rolled onto his side.

"That guy could sleep through an earthquake," Keith grumbled as he sat up

A poke came to his side. He turned his head to see Pidge sitting up beside him on her cot.

"Morning," she whispered. "Able to sleep?"

Keith yawned as he massaged his shoulder. "Like a rock thanks to all that lifting we did," he said. "What about you?"

"About the same," she said and glanced to Hunk and Lance to check they were asleep. She covered her hand with her mouth. "How did you make out with Thace?"

Keith gave an annoyed growl as he hugged his knees to his chest. "A boulder would be easier to interrogate."

Pidge frowned as she blew on her glasses to clean them. "So, you weren't able to learn anything?"

Keith paused and reached for his dagger from under his pillow. "No, I do know for certain my dad's dagger is Galran made." He quickly explained what Ford told him as he handed the dagger for Pidge to examine.

"Old tribes, huh?" she muttered. "Well, that explains the symbol, but that doesn't mean for certain you're part Galra or that Thace is your dad."

Keith sighed as he took it back. "I know, but there's got to be some connection, right?"

"No doubt at this point," Pidge said as she leaned against him. "If Thace was a computer I would offer to hack him for you."

Keith chuckled. "I wish it were that easy."

"What do you want to hack?" Hunk said as he groggily sat up and rubbed his eyes.

Pidge coughed. "Oh, uh, just wishing I could get into the Galra main database to find where Matt is."

 _Thank you,_ Keith thought as he pretended to be fascinated by the edge of his blanket. He really didn't feel comfortable telling the others until he knew for certain what the whole story was.

"Don't blame you," Hunk said as he stretched his arms. "Still, at least you got a lead on your dad."

Pidge's face softened. "Yeah, but..I wish I knew where he was."

Keith patted her head at the same moment Hunk pulled her into a hug.

"I'm sure you'll find him, Pidge," Hunk replied. "Who knows, maybe he'll hear about Voltron and find out you're a paladin."

Pidge scoffed. "Be nice if it was that simple."

The door to their chamber suddenly opened and Maya poked her head in with Daien beside her.

"Oh, good, you're awake." She said and glanced to the still sleeping Lance as she poked him with her foot. "Well, at least the three of you."

Lance snorted as he buried his face into the cot. "Leave me alone," he muttered. "Want sleep."

Keith shook his shoulder. "Come on, Lance, time to rise and shine."

Lance gave a sighed as he unwillingly cracked an eye open. "Must we?"

Keith shook his head as he looked up to Maya. "Where do you want us?"

"Breakfast first," Daien said as he emerged from behind Maya with a tray of bowls. "Sorry it isn't much."

"As long as it's edible, I'm not picky," Hunk said as he took a bowl. He picked up the spork and shoved some into his mouth, and blinked.

"Hey, not bad," he said as he looked into the bowl. "Could use a touch of cinnamon or something, but it's not too bad. What is it?"

Daien shrugged. "Nothing special," he explained. "It's an old Galran dish, but Thace said to tell you it's a bit like 'oatmeal' although I don't know what that is."

Keith exchanged a suspicious expression with Pidge and both gave a silent nod. _Yeah, that's just adds another reason to talk to him. How would he know what oatmeal is?_

Hunk's eyes widened. "Wait, are you telling me Galra food is actually delicious?"

"Traditional, yes," Maya explained as she folded her arms. "The disgusting gruel they give to prisoners and slaves not so much."

Hunk gave a bit of a sigh of relief. "Well, that's makes me feel a bit better. I would feel conflicted finding the enemy's food to be better than what we eat." He stirred, paused and gave a shaky smile to Daien and Maya. "Uh…no offense."

"None taken," Daien and Maya said in flat tone and in perfect unison, causing Keith to ponder if they were use to such statements.

"Where's Thace?" Keith asked as he rose and took a bowl.

"He went to do a perimeter check with Stig," Maya explained as she leaned against the wall. "Should be back by mid-morning."

Keith frowned. _So, questions will have to wait again, terrific._

"In the meantime," Daien said as he looked to Pidge and shifted. "I um..thought you and I could try to transfer some of data to back up drive, while we look for your brother."

Pidge blinked and Keith knew why. She had been hoping to get a second glance through the archive. However, after the others arrived Pidge hadn't been able to get a chance to go searching again. She had been afraid she missed her chance since Leah stated they had to begin transferring the files for backup and transfer them to the ships.

"Sure, but is Leah okay with that?" Pidge asked.

"Yeah, and Slica and Vector will be transferring data too," Daien said with a shaky smile. "So, figured it couldn't hurt."

"You three on the other hand are going to help load weapons onto the ships and help with Ford if he needs it," Maya stated in a sharp tone.

"Yay, more lifting," Lance said as he got his armour on and looked under the cot. "Let me just grab.." He paused and raised his head with his eyes wide as saucers. "My bayard isn't here."

The others stared in alarm. "Are you sure?" Pidge said as she looked too. "Maybe you left it in your lion?"

"No, I saw him put it under his cot," Keith said as he brought his out. "I still have mine."

Pidge checked under her pillow. "Mine's here, what about you, Hunk?"

Hunk checked under his bed and his eyes widened. "Mine's gone too!"

Keith chewed his bottom lip and looked to the two Galrans. "Could somebody here have stolen them?"

Keith didn't want to assume, but he knew Lance and Hunk were careful where they kept their bayards. If a rebel did take them, that was going to make things more complicated.

Daien shook his head with his face full of dread. "No way…at least I can't imagine. This doesn't make sense. There's no one here that would take them!" He looked to Maya to reassure him. "Right, Maya?"

Maya was silent with a thoughtful frown on her face.

"Maya?" Daien asked, fearfully.

She gave a deep frustrated sigh. "Daien, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't we see 'you know who' in front of the paladins' room before we came in here?"

Daien paused, blinked and moaned as he slapped his forehead. "You're right, we did."

"They had their hands behind their backs," Maya added.

"And they had that 'I did something that will get me in trouble' expression they're known for," Daien said, dryly.

"Um..who exactly are you talking about?" Lance asked as he rose.

Maya shook her head as she stepped outside. "Follow me, you two," she said with a growl. "I believe I know exactly where your bayards are."

The paladins exchanged baffled looks as Hunk and Lance quickly followed.

"I'm confused," Pidge said as she looked to Daien. "Who took the bayards?"

"The last person you would want to have them," Daien grumbled.

"What?" Keith said with a raised eyebrow. Was it that bad?

"Eat and let me explain," he said as he leaned against the wall. "It will all make sense in a minute."

Keith and Pidge both gave puzzled looks, but ate as they listened.

0808080808080808080808080808080

"So, where exactly are we going?" Lance asked as Maya lead them down a tunnel.

"No where dangerous I assure you," she said and paused. "Although, there are some people here that would rather have their foot cut off then come in here."

"That's not reassuring," Hunk said, nervously.

Lance opened his mouth to mouth to respond, but stopped when they heard echoes of high pitched voices. He frowned, but Maya said nothing as they ducked into a chamber. The voices grew louder, but it all became clear as he and Hunk entered.

As first he assumed they were in a chamber filled with very small Galrans. However, the echoes of giggles, and playful grins gave clear signs what they really were.

"I didn't realize there were kids here," he said surprised as he and Hunk glanced to Maya.

"They normally have a bit more free range," Maya stated as she searched the chamber. "But with everything that's been going on, we placed them in here to keep them out from underfoot."

Lance leaned against the entrance and looked them over. He had never seen Galra children before and dang it, he never expected them to be so..so cute. They were small and fluffy, with ears twice the size of their heads. They kind of reminded him of his aunt's german shepherd when he was a puppy. They certainly looked as energetic as puppies. There were children of other alien species as well, some he recognized and some he didn't.

Still, it was clear they were all children with the way they were climbing, laughing and playing around. It gave Lance flashbacks to family reunions when his cousins and younger siblings were racing around.

Maya's eyes narrowed as she marched to a group of kids sitting in the far corner.

The kids sat with their backs to them as they approached. A small Galran boy, probably no older than eight, was speaking.

"Arrg, why can't we get them to work?" he growled.

"Maybe you have to bite it," a Galran girl said who was sitting next to him.

"Why would he bite it?" a green reptilian alien boy asked.

"You're just not doing it right!" another Galran boy argued.

Maya halted and tapped her foot. "TRAL!" she barked.

The boy jumped in fright and spun around, while making sure to keep his hands behind his back as did the Galran girl.

"W-what?!" he stammered as the other children with them ducked behind them for cover.

Maya glared as she kneeled to his level and held out her hand. "Hand it over."

Tral winced and gave a forced smile. "Hand…what?" he asked innocently.

"You know what," Maya said in a disapproving tone. "Or do I need to go fetch your mother?"

Tral flinched at that and his ears folded back onto his head. He glanced to the the Galran girl and gave a nod. Both of them meekly lowered their heads as they revealed both bayards from behind their backs.

"I thought so," Maya said as she took them and handed the bayards to Lance and Hunk. "Sorry about this, Paladins."

Wordlessly, Lance took his bayard, glanced at the children. He felt the fear and anger boil inside him as his big brother instincts took control.

"Guys, this is NOT cool, AT ALL," he said firmly as he pointed to the bayard. "You can't take something that's not yours!"

Tral winced at the tone as he rubbed his arm. "We..were just looking."

"These things are weapons not toys!" Lance continued as he kneeled. "You're lucky you didn't hurt yourselves."

Granted, since only a paladin could activate the weapon it wasn't likely the children could. Still, he wanted to make certain these kids remember that it could happen. Last thing he wanted was for these kids to try again with a different weapon and not be as lucky.

"Lance is right," Hunk said in the same firm tone. "You don't take someone's weapon, especially if you don't know how it works."

The children exchanged a look of shame and dread as they crowded next to each other.

"We're, sorry," Tral whispered.

"How did you guys even managed to take them?" Hunk asked as he scratched his head. "Kind of amazing that you got past Keith and he didn't see you."

"Tral is good at sneaking around," the Galran girl said. "His dad taught him how."

"Unfortunately," Maya muttered as she rose.

Lance glanced around and noticed some of the other children had stopped their playing to watch them. He returned his gaze to Tral's face and judging by the guilty look had gotten the message through his head.

"Right, now that the lecture is over," he said as he gave a little smile as he stood up and held his bayard, "want to see something awesome?"

Tral and the other children frowned curiously as Lance dramatically held up his bayard and had it switch to gun mode in front of them.

The children's jaws dropped and much to his delight, jumped up in excitement.

"No way! How did you do that?!" Tral asked.

"Special paladin secret," Lance said with a wink and turned his head to Hunk. "Show them yours, Hunk."

Hunk jerked slightly, obviously hadn't expected this turn of events, but caught on quickly.

"Uh, sure," he said as he held up his bayard. "But we're only showing, we're not shooting in here."

The children nodded as they drew closer. They watched with baited breath as Hunk transformed his bayard in front of them.

"Whoa," the children said in unison.

Hunk blushed and laughed. "Yeah, it is rather cool, isn't it?"

Lance beamed as he leaned back and spotted out of the corner of his eyes one child that hadn't gotten closer. She was a small Galran girl, about five years old if Lance was guessing correctly. Some kind of ribbon like string was tied around her ears that reminded Lance of hair ribbons his little cousin would wear.

She was quietly drawing on several sheets of blank paper with a small charcoal piece in her hand. She held a determined expression on her face that small children only had when they were trying extra hard.

Lance drew closer as he tried to figure out what she was drawing that required so much concentration.

 _Let's see, circle, face, a tail..wait claws._ He snapped his fingers as he loomed over her.

"Hey, good job drawing the lions," he praised with a thumbs up.

The little girl looked up in shock, bolted from the spot as she abandoned her drawings. Lance wanted to assure the girl he meant no harm, but could do nothing as the girl ran, clung to Tral and hid behind him.

The boy gave a yelp at being tackled suddenly and glanced down. "Xenia, what's up with you?"

She said nothing as she meekly buried her face into his side.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare her," Lance said with a frown.

Tral sighed as he shook his head. "Not your fault, my sister just doesn't like meeting strangers."

"Oh," Lance said softly as Maya confirmed with a nod. His eyes landed on the remaining sheets of paper and he knew what to do.

He carefully picked one up, removed his gloves and fingered the texture. _Bit thinner than what I'm use to, but this will do._

He sat on the floor, but made certain he was at a safe distance so he wouldn't scare Xenia again. In his experience, children were often like rabbits, you had to sit still to lure them in and prove you weren't a threat.

"Hey," he said with a friendly grin, "want me to do something neat?"

The children, and even Maya, held inquiring looks as Lance spread the paper on the floor and started to fold it. Hunk moved towards him to glance over his shoulder.

"You making a paper crane?" he asked.

"Yeah," Lance said as he did another fold. "Bit rusty though since it's been awhile."

Still, his fingers moved with a mind of their own. His older brother taught him and after making so many, Lance had a habit of folding them when he was bored. He had even done it out of napkins a few times. He also found it was the perfect to get kids to warm up to him.

Lance grinned as he finished the last fold and held up his creation. "Ta da!" he declared. "It's a paper crane."

He held it high for the children and even gave the small paper wings a little flap.

The alien children said nothing and all looked to each with a baffled expression like they were wondering if Lance had gone crazy.

"What is that?" Tral asked in an unimpressed tone as he folded his arms and Xenia peeked around him.

"It's a paper crane," Lance explained as he held it out to them.

"What does it do?" asked the Galran girl.

Lance shrugged. "Doesn't do anything."

"Then what's the point?" Tral asked in a confused tone.

"What's the point?" Hunk said as he frowned and sat next to Lance. "You kids clearly need some arts and crafts classes," he said.

"I don't even know what that is," Tral said with a huff, but cut off as Xenia moved out from behind him and scurried closer to Lance.

Silently, she kneeled and seemed memorized by the paper crane in Lance's hands. "Pretty," she muttered.

Lance grinned. Exactly as planned. "Here, you can take it," he encouraged. "Go ahead. You can keep it if you want."

Xenia blinked like Lance was insane to give up such a precious treasure and gently picked up the crane. She held it up, twirl around with it and giggled before looking back to Lance.

"Can you make another one?" she asked, hopefully.

"Of course I can," Lance said as he picked up another sheet of paper. "I happen to be the paper crane master."

"C-can I have one too?" one of the Galran boys asked as he raised his hands.

"Me too!" chirped another one.

"Settle down, settle down," Lance said as waved his hands. "There's enough of me to go around."

He quickly became engrossed to the children's questions and didn't notice Maya approach Hunk from behind him.

"I will admit," Maya said, "I didn't think the Blue Paladin was this good with children."

Hunk scoffed. "He has a huge family back home," he said as they watched Lance make another crane. "If anything, this is a nice break for him."

Maya grasped her chin as a thoughtful expression washed over her face. "You know, I can put him on child care duty. As long as he keep the kids out of adults way, it's fine."

Hunk raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah, besides it was my turn today," she stated. "So with him on it, it gets me out of it."

Hunk frowned as he raised an eyebrow. "Can't help, but feel you're just using him to your advantage here."

"And you think he would object to it?" Maya asked with a smirk.

Hunk glanced to Lance who was beaming and laughing as he let one of the children climb his back.

"Naw," Hunk said. "He probably needs this."

As if to prove his point, Xenia squealed with delight as she crawled into Lance's lap and the Blue Paladin let loose the biggest grin as if he won the best prize ever.

08080808080808080808080808080808080

Keith finished placing the swords into the crate before wiping the sweat off his forehead.

"Hoping that's the last of it," he muttered. He then picked up one of the swords and gave it a swing. It was a bit heavier than the swords he was use to working with, but not too much that it was unbearable.

"This wouldn't be bad to fight with," Keith muttered.

"It was forged from the Tharex System, they known for their sword making skills."

Keith turned as he spied Thace enter the chamber and looked around. "You made good progress here," he said with an approving nod. "But I thought the Yellow and Blue Paladin would assist you."

Keith placed the sword back in the crate. "They're just handling..a mishap they had this morning."

Once Daien had explained he and Maya suspected it was one of the kids that had swiped the bayards, Keith and Pidge had decided to keep it just between them. It sounded like Maya would give the kid a good lecture if Lance and Hunk didn't beat her to it. It didn't seem worth it inform the others about it and cause some unneeded trouble. They had enough to do as is.

He was afraid Thace would question it more, but said nothing as he went to one of the empty crates. "I noticed back on Cevis you are quite talented in sword fighting," he said. "I've been wondering who your teacher was?"

Keith paused and frowned. Was Thace trying to get to know Keith better? He folded his arms as he sat on a crate.  
"I didn't have a teacher," he said. "I mostly self taught myself until I got some actual lessons when I was 13."

Keith had read and watched A LOT of instructional videos online to try to improve. Hard part had been to try to practice with wooden swords when his foster parents weren't around to stop him. He didn't get any formal classes until Shiro's parents had signed him up in middle school.

"Besides that though," Keith continued with a shrug. "I just try to practice when I could."

"Yeah, to the point I had to take the sword away so you would go to bed," Shiro's voice called out.

Keith turned his head as he saw Shiro entered, and was glad to see him with a more relaxed smile. He offered Shiro a grin as he went over.

"Hey, you doing okay?" he whispered so Thace wouldn't hear.

Shiro nodded. "Yeah, much," he said as he ruffled Keith's hair. Sleeping in Black helped me clear my head quite a bit."

Keith gave a half smile as he weaved through his hair to straighten it. He glanced back over to Thace and noticed the Galran was giving them a thoughtful expression.

It was then Shiro looked to Thace too and gave a more solemn frown.

"On that note," he said as he approached him. "You are the one that saved Keith when he crashed landed on Cervis, and let us be able to escape from Zarkon's, right?"

Keith held his breath as he watched. Thace narrowed his eyes and set his tablet aside. "I am," he replied.

Shiro gave a small smile. "I should have said this yesterday, but I wanted to say thank you. We wouldn't be standing here if it wasn't for you." He pointed back to Keith. "And he's family to me. I'm grateful that you took care of him when I couldn't."

Keith blushed a little and kept quiet. _I wasn't in that much trouble._

Red gave a deep growl in her voice and gave images of how badly injured Keith was into his mind.

 _….Okay, fine, I was in trouble,_ he silently told Red. _No need to rub it in._ His lion gave a soft protective growl and noticed she sounded a bit amused.

Thace was silent, but gave a slow nod. "You're welcome, but..I should be thank you and the other paladins for willing to fight on Zarkon."

Shiro gave a soft smile as he nodded. "Then perhaps we'll call it even," he said. "At least for now." He folded his arms and turned back around to Keith. "Where are the others by the way?"

"Pidge is in with the computers," Keith explained. "She's giving a hand transferring and backing up the data."

"What about Hunk and Lance?" Shiro asked.

Keith coughed as he rubbed his neck. "Um…Maya took them to see the kids."

Shiro blinked puzzled as Thace raised an eyebrow. "The kids?" Shiro asked.

"Long story," Keith explained. "I'll tell you about it later."

Shiro seemed tempted to ask more, but kept his frown as he turned to Thace. "I should go check on them. Where do I go?"

"It's the third chamber from this one," Thace explained. "You'll find a long tunnel, but they should be at the chamber at the end of it."

"Thanks," Shiro said as he proceeded to leave and patted Keith's shoulder. "Be back in a bit."

"Sure," Keith said as he watched him leave before turning back to one of the crates. He paused as he felt eyes on him and looked up to Thace.

"What?" Keith asked, concerned.

"You two seem close," Thace commented.

Keith nodded as he shrugged. "We've known each other for a long time," he explained, "plus he's also my foster brother."

Thace paused and seemed a bit surprised. "Foster brother?"

Keith chewed his lip. "It's like how you guys will take in orphans. We have a system on Earth where people will care for kids who have no families."

Not that it was a good system in Keith's opinion. He'd known too many other foster kids that had gotten screwed over by it. Keith had been one of the luckier ones.

"I'm familiar with the concept," Thace interjected, "but..you didn't live with your parents?"

Keith gave him a hard look. _He wants to know about my parents?_ He rotated his shoulders. _Well, maybe I'll finally get some answers out of him._

"I don't have any parents," Keith said flatly. "I never knew my father and my mother, Amy, died when I was a kid."

He watched the Galran's face like a hawk. Thace's face was unreadable though. Keith saw no hint of surprise or shock, but he lowered his eyes and noticed Thace's arms were folded and his grip had tightened on his arms. He was almost squeezing it.

"I'm sorry for your loss," he said quietly as he turned his head. "That..must have been difficult."

Keith swallowed as he hugged himself. "Yeah…it was." He raised his head to him. "I've been wondering for awhile, but..you've been to Earth, haven't you?"

Thace was quiet. "I..have, it was a short visit though."

Keith held his breath. "Why were you there?"

Thace kept his back to him. "It's not important."

"I kind of think it is," Keith said as he stepped forward. "You keep dodging questions every time I bring it up."

He heard Thace take in a deep breath. "Some questions are best left unanswered, especially if one is not ready to hear them."

Keith growled. "And you get to decide that do you?!"

Thace sighed as he turned back around. "In this case I do."

"That's not good enough for me," Keith said as he stepped forward. "Part of the reason I came here was to get answers, and somehow you're connected." He raised his hands up. "And, frankly, I'm getting sick of the run around here!" He reached and held up his dagger.

"Why do you have the same symbol on your dagger that I do on mine?" Keith asked. "The one that was suppose to belong to my dad?"

Thace was silent.

"Are you seriously going to keep standing there and not say anything?" Keith accused as his anger burned inside of him.

Thace kept a tight frown and he shut his eyes.

Keith 's hands shooks in frustration. "Fine! If that's how you want it!" he cried as he turned on his heels and stormed out.

He exited the chamber grumbling under his breath as he made plans to go find Ford. He hoped he had something for Keith to hammer.

080808080808080808080808080808080

Back in the chamber Thace rubbed his eyes as he sat on the crate. "What a mess," he muttered.

"You can't blame him," said Leah and Thace cracked an eye open to see her enter.

"You heard all of that?" he asked.

"Was rather hard not to," she said as she sat next to him. "Thace, you need to talk to him."

Thace ran a hand over his hair. "If I do, his world is going to change forever."

"And being a paladin of Voltron hasn't already?" she said gently as she patted his arm. "Thace, I understand your reluctance, but the situation has changed." Leah frowned. "If anything else, you owe it to that boy."

Thace was silent as he took out his dagger and ran a finger over the blade. Leah patted his shoulder as she stood.

"I'll leave you alone, I need to go check on my children," she said as she went to leave, "but please reconsider."

Thace could not say anything as the dagger in his hand suddenly felt much heavier than it did moments before.


	8. Chapter 8

Shiro followed the directions Thace gave, although he had to admit he wasn't certain what he would find. He wasn't surprised to discover there were children here, he caught glimpses of some of them spying on him, Hunk and Lance when they first arrived. However, he was concerned on why the children were here.

Were they trained and raised to fight? The concept of child soldiers wasn't a new one.

Shiro didn't have all of his memories from the year he was held captive, but he was certain he had never seen Galran children the whole time he was there.

That's probably a good thing, he thought.

Echoes of high pitched giggling broked Shiro's thought as he wandered down the tunnel.

"And then," Lance's voice echoed, "the bad witch Zarkon tried to get Dorothy to hand over her magic shoes!"

"Why did he want the shoes?" a girl's voice asked.

"I told you, they were magic," Lance explained, "and he wanted them by right of inheritance since they belonged to his evil sister."

"Zarkon doesn't have a sister!" a boy's voice said.

"Well, in this story he does. So, can I please finish?" Lance argued as Shiro grew closer to the entrance and peeked inside.

Lance was sitting on the floor with his legs crossed and surround by a horde of alien children, with most of them being Galra. He noticed one little Galran girl was sitting in Lance's lap as she fiddled with a paper crane.

Shiro then saw that several of the children had paper cranes, frogs and even a few rabbits in their hands.

"As I was saying," Lance continued and didn't seem aware Shiro was watching, "Dorothy then took the big pot of water and dumped it all over the witch Zarkon."

He made gasping noises and waved his arms around madly. "And he screamed 'I'm melting! I'm melting' as he turned into a big puddle on the floor."

One of the Galran boys gave a pout. "Why would water melt him?"

"Because Zarkon is water-soluble," Lance replied and Shiro had to put cover his mouth to keep from laughing.

"That makes no sense," the boy argued with a huff.

"It makes sense to me," the girl in Lance's lap quipped.

Lance patted the top of the girl's head with pride. "And that is why you are a smart girl, Xenia."

The girl beamed at the praise.

The boy who had argued rolled his eyes. "Can we get a different story now?"

Lance gave a huff. "Okay, fine, how about I tell you the tell of the Great Hero Lance and how he saved his whole team from a five headed monster?"

Shiro shook his head amused, but paused as he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around and saw Leah behind him, but she held a finger to her lips as she approached.

"I don't wish to disturb the storyteller there," she whispered as she peered inside. "I don't think I have ever seen all the children be able to sit still this long."

Shiro gave a half smile. "Lance is a natural with kids."

Leah gave a small nod. "My daughter especially seems captivated by him."

Shiro paused and glanced into the crowd. "Your daughter?"

"The small one in his lap," Leah said as she pointed, "and the boy that is trying to climb him is my son."

Shiro stared at her silently. He hadn't expected the leader of the rebellion had children herself. He gave a thoughtful frown as he looked over the children. "You have a lot more kids here than I expected."

"Many are the children of rebels," Leah explained, "but some of them are orphans we rescued from the empire's clutches."

Her eyes hardened. "A Galran orphan is considered the property of Zarkon and are sent to be trained in institutions to join his military."

Shiro froze. It wasn't a complete shock, but it boiled him to pictured small children like the ones before him being raised to fight.

"Do you...train these kids too?" Shiro asked, not sure he wanted an answer.

Leah's frowned tightened, but shook her head. "No, but I will admit I've never seen a child we've raised here that didn't decide to join the fight when they were older. Truthfully, I rather they stay out of it, but that's the mother in me."

Shiro thought of his young paladins in his care. He was so proud of him and yet there were days it killed him that they had to fight in a war at such a young age.

"I know the feeling," he admitted.

Leah leaned against the wall. "You may find this difficult to believe, but before Zarkon, children were considered precious to the Galra."

Shiro's eyes widened at that. After witnessing the Galra beat, humiliate and abuse slaves until they reached the point they felt like they were worth nothing, it was a hard concept to wrap his mind around.

"Compared to other species," Leah continued, "we take a much longer time to 'reproduce' and as a result we have a lower birth rate."

Shiro's mind suddenly raced back to the dozen robot sentries the Galra had to the lower number of the flesh and blood Galra soldiers that was always on their warships.

"Is that why they have so many robot sentries?" Shiro asked.

"Partly," Leah said and gave a bitter growl. "It's also why you rarely see female soldiers in the army."

She gave a forced laugh. "The empire expects the females to focus on 'creating and raising the next generation of warriors to serve Zarkon'. Many of the rebels here were originally run away brides that didn't agree with that statement."

That piece of information clicked in Shiro's brain as he recalled the high number of women he's seen in the rebellion. He looked to Leah in a new light. "Is that the same case for you?"

She shook her head. "No, I was born in the rebellion. My father was the previous leader." She grimaced. "But others weren't so lucky."

Shiro had a hand through his hair as he shut his eyes. "I'll admit," he said slowly. "I knew the empire was terrible, but I...didn't realize how bad it was for the Galra themselves."

"The only people who do well under Zarkon are those in the military and himself," Leah said darkly. "For the rest of us, we're merely nothing, but pawns to him."

I can agree with that, Shiro thought. It was then he recalled what Keith had told him back after they got reunited and he straightened his posture.

"That reminds me," Shiro said as he folded his arms and mentally prepare himself. "I've heard that...you guys gave me a hand in escaping?"

Leah blinked momentarily and then gave a click of tongue. "Ah, yes," she said. "We did."

"How did you do it?" Shiro asked. "And..why?"

Leah looked hesitant as she drummed her fingers against her elbow. "I'm afraid I wasn't directly involved in that plan."

Shiro frowned in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"That was Oberon's doing, who is also my husband," Leah explained and cleared her throat. "And, it greatly pains me to say this, but it was a spur of the moment."

Shiro staggered slightly. "Spur of the moment?" he asked. "I was the Champion."

"I am aware," Leah said dryly.

"I..I was heavily guarded," Shiro added, at least that what he recalled from his memories.

"I know," Leah said in an exasperated tone.

"And he just decided to help me escape because he felt like it?" Shiro said in disbelief.

"You don't know my husband," Leah admitted as she rubbed her eyes. "In his defense, we had discussed it before, but..this is normal for him. He thought it would be a challenge."

Shiro's jaw dropped and he struggled to clamp it shut as he absorbed this information.

"That..just raises more questions," he said.

"I'm afraid he's not here to answer them," Leah said. "He's away on mission, but when he returns I could-"

"Mama!" Xenia's voice echoed as she scampered out of the cave and latched onto her leg.

"Look!" she exclaimed proudly as she held up the paper crane. "Paladin Lance made it!"

Leah's expression became more tender as she kneeled. "I see that, and did you 'thank you'."

"Yup, and he made something called a 'rabbit' too," Xenia giggled. "It looks like Uncle Stig." Her giggling stop as she spotted Shiro and dove behind Leah's leg.

"Who's that?" Xenia said as she pointed.

"This is Paladin Shiro," Leah said as she patted her daughter's head. "Can you say 'hello' to him?"

Xenia blinked as she gradually came out. "Hi," she said, quietly.

"Hi," Shiro said as he kneeled to be at her level and look less intimidating. "So, Lance made you a crane? That's lucky."

Xenia nodded and frowned as she studied Shiro's face. "Can you make paper cranes?"

Shiro laughed. "No, sorry."

"Oh," Xenia said in a disappointed tone. "You should learn how to do it."

"Xenia," Leah scolded, but it only made Shiro laugh.

"You're right, I should," Shiro retorted. "I'll put it on my list of things to do."

Xenia gave a thoughtful pout as she looked at Shiro, then at the paper crane in her hand and back at Shiro.

"Here," she said as she held it up. "You can have this."

Shiro's smile faltered as he tilted his head. "You sure?"

"Yes, Lance made me three other ones," Xenia said as she handed it to him. "You look like you need one."

Shiro gave a small smile as he took Xenia's small gift and held it carefully in his human hand. It suddenly struck him, no matter the culture or the species, children still acted like children.

"Thank you," he said with a small bow of his head, "that's very kind."

Xenia grinned with pride and then gasped as she looked back into the chamber. "Maggie! No! That's my spot!" She zoomed back inside to battle over the right to sit in Lance's lap.

Lance gave a yelp as Xenia pounced on him. "Girls, Girls," he said with a laugh as he wrapped his arm around both kids to cease the fighting. "There's plenty of me to go around!"

He raised his head and finally noticed Shiro and Leah. He coughed and cleared his throat. "Oh, hey! Um...how long have you guys been standing here?"

"Enough to hear about how you defeated a five headed monster," Shiro said with a smirk. "I must not have been present for that little adventure."

Lance blushed slightly and coughed. "So...uh, if you're looking for Hunk he said he was going to work on those ships while I'm on babysitting duty."

"I'll go check in on him and Pidge then," Shiro said as and looked to the kids. "If you guys want a real fun story, have Lance tell you about the time how Blue Lion almost got stolen after a girl tied him up."

"REALLY?!" the children cried in unison.

Lance's eye twitched. "Geez, thanks, Shiro."

Shiro laughed not hearing Lance as he looked over the small gleeful and innocent faces surrounding him. No matter how the alliance with the resistance played out, if anything else, Shiro vowed he would protect these children.

0808080808080808080808080

Keith spent the rest of the morning in the hangar pounding anything Ford and Hunk needed to be straightened. He noticed Hunk gave him a concerned look as he pounded in the bolts, but said nothing.

Keith was grateful for that since he was in no mood to talk and desperately needed to hit something. Why wouldn't Thace just answer his questions? Was it that big of a secret?! He probably knew exactly what he wanted to ask!

Some questions are best left unanswered, Thace's voice echoed in his brain as he hammered. Why did he get to decide what Keith should and shouldn't know?

But do I want the answers?

Keith paused and his hand with slack at the thought that rolled through his head.

Do I want to confirm that I'm part Galra? If I don't know, that means I don't have to tell the others? I can just believe that I'm just a regular human.

Keith panted as he lowered the hammer and frowned. He couldn't deny that some part of him was content with that plan. To on pretending he didn't know anything. He could be forever in the dark on who his father was, and just continue with the stories he made up in his head about him when he was a kid. There was comfort in that. There was no worry or fear of the others rejecting him. No fear of Shiro to suddenly hate him for being part of the enemy that had hurt him so.

I could do that, Keith thought as he twirled the hammer, but could I be satisfied with that?

"Keith," Hunk spoke as he removed his welding mask, "you okay?"

Keith shut his eyes as he turned around. "Yeah..just got some stuff on my mind."

Hunk frowned as he wiped the grease off his glove. "Do you..want to talk?"

Keith sighed. Pidge knew all about it, but he wasn't ready to tell any of the others yet. He wasn't even certain what he knew.

Still, he could feel Hunk's eyes staring at him with the determine frown he held sometimes.

"Can I ask you something?" Keith said as he folded his arms.

"Uh, sure," Hunk replied, uncertain.

Keith chewed his bottom lip. "Do you..ever want to know something, but at the same time you don't either?"

Hunk blinked and gave a small smile.

"Like, all the time, Dude," he said as he picked up a scrap piece. "Will admit, before we left Earth, I probably would have leaned into the 'don't want to know' category."

Keith frowned thoughtfully as he leaned against the wall. "What about now though?"

Hunk paused and tapped his foot. "Now? I definitely prefer to know."

He turned to Keith with a serious frown. "If I had continue to not want to learn anything, Shay and her people would still be slaves to the Galra and she still wouldn't know what freedom is. She might even be dead."

Hunk shook his head. "When I think of that, there's no way I could just go back to not wanting to learn anything, you know?"

Keith gave a small smile. He thought Hunk was a nervous wreck when they first met. He was always wishing to bury his head in the sand, except now, Keith would argue Hunk was probably one of the bravest and most stable of their team.

"Yeah, I get you," Keith said, softly.

"Don't mean to eavesdrop," Ford voiced as he rolled out from under a ship, "but at my age you assume anything you don't know will kill you eventually. So, you might as well face it head on."

"That's..one way to look at it I suppose," Hunk said. He glanced back to Keith. "Any particular reason you're wondering that?"

Keith faltered and chewed his bottom lip. "It's-"

"Something between him and Thace," Ford interjected and gave a stern look. "Son, just leave it be for now."

Hunk raised an eyebrow and glanced between Keith and Ford. "Okay, is there something going on that I'm missing?"

"Yes, immensely, that's my point," Ford retorted and looked to Keith. "Thace can be stupid sometimes, but he does learn. Give him time, he'll come around."

Keith gave a small nod as Hunk still looked confused and slumped. "Okay, if there's one thing I do know is that I'm hungry and I need something to eat."

Ford pointed to the door. "Go ahead and take a break then," he grunted as he rolled out. "I got things covered here." He glanced to Keith. "Same goes for you, go. I'll have more stuff for you to hit later if need be."

Keith sighed as he massaged the tenderness in his hands. "Thanks, but I'm fine."

Hunk wrapped an arm around Keith's shoulders. "Then let's go eat something," he said. "I'm a bit curious to see what other Galra dishes are like after this morning."

Keith gave a small smile as he let Hunk lead him out of the hangar. At least, when it came to Hunk, he could always count on the guy to lend an ear when needed even if he didn't fully know the details.

0808080808080808080808080808080

After grabbing something to eat, and Hunk demanding to have the recipe for a dish that reminded Keith a bit like chile, they wandered into where the computers were to find Pidge. She was rapidly typing with Daien hovering over her shoulder as two other Galran women were typing on some large tablets and connected wires to different devices.

"How is it going?" Hunk asked.

"Almost done transferring the files," Pidge said as she continued to type and glanced over her shoulder. "Also, Daien and I might have found out an easier way to search for my brother."

"Oh?" Keith said as he folded his arms. "How so?"

"When I was a guard, one of the jobs I had to do was keep track of new slaves that arrived at the camp," Daien replied. "And while the empire doesn't keep track of slaves names and just put numbers on them, I did notice people of the same race had similar patterns of numbers."

"So, they sort them by species?" Keith concluded.

"Exactly," Pidge said, "and since we know Shiro's number, and Daien just told me what my dad's was, I got a rough good idea what kind Matt had."

Hunk winced. "That's great, but hate to point this out, that's still one number in a list of millions."

Pidge sighed, but continued her typing. "I know, but at least it's something I can use."

Keith patted her shoulder as Hunk gave her arm a gentle squeeze. Hunk then looked to Daien. "By the way, I realize this is a random question, but do you guys have a recipe for that lunch we just had?"

Daien blinked as he rubbed his neck. "Uh, sure, but it's fairly basic though. Do you really need it?"

Hunk grabbed Daien by his shoulders causing him to jump with a serious glint in his eyes.

"Dude, trust me, when you're choices are to try to find basic recipes or eat more space goo, you snag any recipes you can find!" Hunk held a fist in the air. "If anything, it gives me something to work with."

Daien blinked and scratched his head. "Uh, alright," he said as he reached for his tablet, "I can write it out and transfer it to Pidge later if you want."

"That would be awesome," Hunk declared as he watched him write.

Keith silently watched, only to be drawn back to Pidge as she tugged him on his arm.

"So," she whispered so the others wouldn't hear, "did you get an answer from Thace?"

Keith said nothing as he scowled, which gave Pidge a clear enough answer for her to do the same. "I take that as a 'no'," she said.

"He keeps ignoring me," Keith replied, "and I don't know what else to do unless I...don't know hold a sword against his throat or something."

Pidge tilted her head in thought like she was pondering something. "Well, if you want, I could get Lance and together we could jump him and-"

"No," Keith said with a shake of his head, "maybe I just have to give up."

Pidge leaned back in her chair as if she was trying to look around Keith and then folded her arms as she leaned back forward. "Or, maybe not," she whispered as she pointed.

Keith turned and felt his anger slightly raise to see Thace enter, and approached them.

"What do you want?" Keith said in a tense tone.

"Keith, I wish to speak to you," Thace stated.

"About what?" Keith snapped as he turned his head away. "Ford said we could take a break, and I'm not in the mood-"

"About your questions," Thace cut in thickly.

Keith paused and bit by bit he turned back around to face him. "You serious?"

Thace didn't answer as he turned back around. "We'll go to my quarters where we can speak in private."

Keith flinched, suddenly feeling trapped and this was a terrible idea. A touch to his shoulder broke his momentary fear as he glanced back to see Pidge giving a comforting smile.

"Go already," she whispered. "Got to find out at some point."

Keith sighed, and said nothing else as he trailed after Thace out of the room with the largest knot he ever felt in his stomach.

080808080808080808080808080808080

Thace's quarters weren't exactly what Keith expected. It was simple and barely anything in it besides a cot, a table and chair and some weapons that hang on the wall.

"Pretty bare in here," Keith commented.

"I've only been here for an Earth equivalent of a month," Thace stated as he pulled out his chair and indicated for Ketih to sit. "I was undercover before that."

"Right," Keith replied sheepishly as he sat and glanced up. "What made you change your mind?"

Thace's rubbed his neck. "Various thing, friends telling me that I should...and admitting that you do have a right to know."

He sat on the cot and tapped his fingers nervously. Keith held his breath as he waited for him to speak.

"I..have been to Earth," Thace began. "When the resistance was first attacked, the survivors fled in different directions. I got separated from the others and managed to steal one of the transport ships from the Galra army. However, I accidentally got caught in a wormhole when a warship attempted to give chase after a fleeing ship."

Keith frowned as flashbacks to how he and the others had escaped from Zarkon in a similar manner. "And you landed on Earth?" he asked.

"Yes," Thace explained. "I had no clue where I was and headed straight towards the planet my scanners indicated was a safe environment."

He rubbed his neck. "I..did not make the best landing and my ship was badly damaged as result. I ended up stranded on Earth until I was able to make repairs."

Keith took a deep breath to calm himself. Here's the big question, Keith thought as he brought out his dagger. "Ford says this is a Galran dagger."

"It is," Thace replied.

"Do you know how or why my dad had it?" Keith asked.

Thace tensed and his fingers fidgeted. "That's..because-"

"Thace!" Stig cried out as he rushed in and gasped for air. "You got to come to the meeting room! We got a problem!"

Keith growled with an annoyed pout and felt close to stabbing the alien with his dagger. Not now!

Thace pinched the bridge of his nose with a similar murderous expression. "Can it wait, I'm in the middle of something."

No kidding! Keih thought, darkly.

Stig shook his head. "We just got word from Oberon and his squad," he said in an urgent tone. "There are some warships heading straight towards us."

All of Keith's anger vanished as his eyes widened and he looked to Thace who held the same look of horror. Without exchanging any words, both of them ran out of the room after Stig with Keith still clutching the dagger in his hands.


	9. Chapter 9

Shiro and the other paladins were already gathered by the time Keith and Thace arrived. Leah held a grim expression as she looked over a map with Vector, Zelda, and Ford.

"What did Oberon say exactly?" Thace asked as he stepped forward.

Leah straightened her posture. "He and his squad snuck in and discovered these ships are flying out with our current coordinates."

She tapped a button on her tablet and suddenly an image of a giant Galran warship appeared on the monitor and was accompanied by over a dozen flag ships.

Thace's eyes widened slightly. "I know that ship, that's Prorok's."

"Prorok?" Shiro asked and gave a tight frown. "I feel like I know that name."

"He's one of Zarkon's high ranking officers," Vector explained as she leaned over the table. "And..he's also the officer Thace had worked directly under."

"Ah," Lance said as he sucked air through his teeth and looked to Thace. "So..I'm guessing he's rather chomping at the bit to get his hands on you then, huh?"

"Most likely," Thace admitted without taking his eyes off the monitor. "He's also the one that attempted to capture Voltron while you were freeing the Balmera."

Keith's eyes widened slightly as he glanced over to Hunk. The Yellow Paladin's expression was calm, but Keith noticed his fists were tightening.

"So, he's the reason the Balmera was almost killed?" Hunk asked.

"One of many," Thace stated as he took the tablet from Leah and read it over. "How long do we have until they arrive?"

Leah sighed as she began to pace. "Oberon mentioned they managed to buy us some time by damaging the engine of the main ship, but it won't take long to repair."

"We're estimating they'll be here early morning," Zelda said and rubbed her eyes. "That doesn't give us a lot of time to evacuate."

Keith shook his head. "How did they find you guys?"

Zelda glared. "You dare to ask?" she said and pointed a finger at Pidge. "I'm betting they followed the Green Paladin's trail."

Pidge was taken aback and swiftly stared back with fury in her eyes. "That's impossible! I made certain only our team could find us!"

"How else do you explain it then?!" Zelda snapped as she stomped to Pidge.

"That they came to the same conclusion as the kid did," Ford interjected as he shoved Pidge back around him and glared at Zelda. "We only managed to better hide our signal in the last day! Prorok could have known our location for days and only decided now to attack!"

"It doesn't matter either way," Hunk snapped as he got in between them. "You guys have to get your people out of here pronto!"

Zelda looked prepare to argue, but went quiet as Hunk gave a fierce glare back.

Keith gave a smirk at that. _Go Hunk._

"He's right," Leah agreed and looked to Thace. "You know him best. Any idea what his plan would be?"

Thace folded his arms. "He'll send in troops to capture us. He prefers if he has trophies to prove to Zarkon that he is valuable."

"And what better prize than a whole cell of resistance fighters," Lance grumbled and looked to Ford. "How ready are those ships you're fixing?"

"If I work non-stop, and with help, we can be ready," Ford said, "but we'll be cutting it close. Need extra time to add weapons to fight back."

"But that means you'll be flying straight into an attack," Keith said. "Can't you use the ships you have already?"

"We only have a few transport ships that are stable," Leah explained. "We could at least transport the children and get them to safety," Leah suggested, "but they'll need a fair number of adults to accompany them."

"And we need every single person here to ensure we leave nothing or anyone else behind," Thace said.

Lance grasped his chin in thought. "If you can't leave earlier," he said and then smirked as he snapped his fingers. "Than what you guys just need a way to get by those ships without them seeing or blasting at you."

"Basically," Keith said and folded his arms. "I know that smirk, what are you plotting?"

Lance scoffed. "If this is the same guy from the one that was in charge of the attack on the Balmera, than how much you want to bet he would focus on capturing us if he saw us?"

Shiro's eyes narrowed and smiled. "You mean, we act as a distraction so the resistance can get away."

"Bingo!" Lance said as he snapped his fingers and made a little dance move. "We act as bait, fight off the ships and viola! The rebels can get out of here scott free!"

"It's an idea," Leah said slowly, "but I'm not certain I'm comfortable letting Voltron put itself at risk for our sakes."

Shiro's eyes hardened. "Leah, you said the safety of your people come first and I agree you should in this case," he said and gestured to the other paladins. "This is what we do and you've guys have already gave us a hand when we didn't even realize it. Please, let us do this for you."

"And once we tell Allura and Coran what's going on, they'll come here with the Castle of Lions to provide extra firepower," Pidge argued. "Come on, we can do this."

Leah said nothing and looked to Thace. "What's your opinion?"

Thace went quiet as he looked to Keith and nodded. "It's our best option to get everyone out, Leah."

"And to prevent what happened last time," Ford muttered under his breath.

Leah shut her eyes and looked to Shiro. "Alright, but we need to move fast."

"Agreed," Shiro said as he looked to the Paladins. "Hunk, Keith go with Ford and help him. Pidge see if you can give a hand getting the rest of the data transferred."

Lance raised his hand. "What do you want me to do?"

Shiro opened his mouth, but Leah stepped in front of him. "Stay with the children," Leah instructed. "Your job will be to keep them out from underfoot." Her frown tightened. "And try to keep them from getting scared, I imagine they've heard rumors already."

To Keith's surprise, Lance suddenly held a protective frown he'd only seen him on rare occasions. "You got it."

"Shiro, come with me," Leah said as she held out a map. "We'll need to make a plan on how to confront the ships, and Thace I'll need your advice."

Keith silently watched Thace glide over to Leah and he almost reached out his hand, but he instantly drew it back. He almost had his answers, but the chance had slipped by and Keith had to accept.

Getting the rebels out was the more important mission.

"Keith," Hunk said as the other paladins went by him, "you coming?"

Keith stole one more glance at Thace before recollecting his thoughts. "Yeah, I'm coming," he said as they left. There was a lot that had to be done.

0808080808080808080808080808080808080

Keith didn't allow his brain to comprehend on what Thace as going to tell him as he worked madly. There were more important things to concentrate on and not a lot of time to do it. He let Ford and Hunk order him around with no question. His knowledge on mechanic stuff was limited, but he would help when he could.

There was no time to eat, but Daien had appeared with small bowls of food for them to gulp down while they worked. The few times Keith went back out of the hangar to collect needed materials he could feel the uneasy tension in the air.

All the rebels were agitated and quietly kept to themselves as if they were afraid one word spoken would shorten the little time they had. Keith wondered how the others were doing, but there was no chance to check on them until Shiro appeared to collect all of the paladins into the meeting room to debrief them on the plan.

Vector brought up a hologram of the planet as Shiro stood in front.

"Alright, team listen up," he said as he pointed to a spot on the planet and it zoomed on the mountain. "The rebels plans are to fly out of the tunnels of the mountain."

The image shifted to the left. "While we do that we'll have the lions appear here, near this rocky terrain. As soon as the ships appear we fly in and hit them hard, but remember the point of this is for us to be a distraction."

"So, we need to put on a good show for them?" Pidge confirmed.

"Exactly," Shiro said. "Our goal is to not let one ship get near the mountain where the rebels ships will be fleeing."

"What about Allura and Coran?" Keith asked as he raised his hand. "They coming?"

"They're trying to end the meeting as fast as they can," Shiro explained, "but unfortunately they can't just leave without revealing the presence of the resistance. With that said, Allura vowed they're going to be here as soon as they can to over us more fire power."

"Who are the first ships that are flying out?" Lance asked.

"It will be the children, with me and a few others," Leah explained, "we thought it would be the safest time to get them out when the Prorok was first caught by surprise."

"With that said," Thace stated as he crossed his arms. "Knowing Prorok, there's a strong chance he will send some ground troops to investigate the planet on foot. He prefers a direct approach when he can."

"So, we need to keep an eye on the ground too," Hunk stated.

"Precisely," Leah said and looked to Ford. "Are the ships almost ready?"

"Just about," Ford said as he rotated his shoulder. "Still need to tighten a few cannons on them for defense. I will say my muscles are going to be sore for the next few days after this."

"You can sleep it off once we reach our new base," Vector said as she glanced to the paladins.

"Where are you guys going?" Lance asked.

"We found a planet that hasn't been claimed by the empire yet," Leah explained. "It will be quite a bit colder than what we're used to, but it should do."

"And which planet is that?" Hunk asked curiously.

"Sorry, but we thought it was best to keep that secret until we know we're safe and secure," Vector replied. "But we promise to contact you lot once we're able to do so safely."

"We understand," Shiro stated. "Your people's safety comes first and I would do the same in your position."

Pidge frowned. "Wait, you're not going to join one of the other rebel cells?"

"We told them to stay on high alert," Vector explained, "but we deemed this the safest option for all until we're certain the empire won't follow us."

"With that said, we don't have lot of time left," Shiro said as he placed his hands on his hips. "Take a small breather, but after that I want you guys to be ready and able in your lions. Those ships will be here soon."

Lance coughed. "If it's okay," he asked, "I like to go back to the kids for a bit. I promised them I would be coming right back after this meeting."

"I'll come join you," Hunk said looked to Lance and then back to Shiro. "If that's alright."

"That's fine," Shiro said and looked to the others, "just make sure you guys are all ready."

The meeting was disbanded and everyone flocked out of the room, except Keith. He stayed where he was and he noticed Thace did as well.

He held his tongue as he gripped his dagger. Keith wanted to ask, but there were so many questions, and not much time. Was it selfish he just wanted Thace to go with him and the other paladins so they could have that talk? What should he do?

Thace approached Keith, while keeping his hand on his own dagger. "I know you wish to continue our discussion from earlier, but I don't believe this is the proper time to do it."

Keith craved to argue differently, but his heart knew Thace was right. This wasn't a chat to simply rush through and depending on what Thace revealed it could be a bad distraction for the upcoming battle.

"With that said," Thace continued, "I will promise you that we will have that talk once the battle is done and the resistance is safely relocated."

Keith gave a scoff. "No offense, but how do I know you'll keep that promise?" His eyes narrowed. "For all I know you'll just change your mind later."

Thace's face hardened and then he brought out his dagger. "Bring out your dagger," he instructed.

Keith was hesitant as he held his dagger. "..Why?"

"We'll exchange them," Thace said as he handed the hilt of his dagger to Keith. "As proof I will keep my promise I will need to seek you out in order to get mine back."

Keith's grip tightened slightly. Give up the only thing he that had kept him company during his lonely days in the foster homes? The one thing his mother had given him? Yet, he had no reason to distrust Thace, but it would ensure he would get the answers he needed.

Gradually, Keith brought out his dagger and ran his fingers over the familiar hilt as he done countless times before. He then held it out to Thace as he wrapped hands over the dagger the Galran was offering. The hilt was longer and narrower than what he was use to with his other one.

"I better get it back," Keith said as Thace took hold of his dagger.

"You will," Thace said as he put the dagger away and patted Keith's shoulder. "Now, come, we should get ready."

Keith gave a solemn as he put the dagger away in his bag and tried to refocus on the battle ahead.

080808080808080808080808080808080

Lance grinned as he looked over the grind he had drawn in the dirt and marked his 'x'. "Alright, Tral, you're turn."

The Galran boy raised an eyebrow and he placed an 'O' in the next box and crossed a line from top to bottom.

Lance gave a gasp and placed a hand over his heart. "I can't believe it! You beat me again!"

Tral pouted as he crossed his arms over his chest. "This tic-tac-toe game is WAY too easy," he said and raised an eyebrow. "And it feels like you're letting me win."

Lance gave a gasp. "What, I would never-"

The other alien children gave him doubtful glares and Hunk snickered from his spot in the corner. "Told you they would catch on," Hunk said with a smirk.

Lance sighed as he wiped out the game in the dirt with his hands. "Alright, let's play a different one."

Tral's face hardened as he sat back. "I don't feel like playing any more games," he said and looked up. "And..we have to be ready to leave soon, right?"

Lance paused and rubbed his neck. He had been trying to keep the kids' mind off their upcoming evacuation as much as he was able, but it was getting harder to do so as it drew closer.

"Yeah, you wil," he said, and held up a finger. "How about another story then? Hunk here has a real good one from when-"

A tug was felt on his arm. He glanced to Xenia staring up at him with her big wide eyes.

"What's up, Sweetheart?" Lance said as he pulled the Galran girl in his lap.

Xenia tugged on the sleeves of her shirt as she raised her head. "Is Zarkon going to take us away?"

The room went silent. Tral's grip tightened on his pants as each child looked to Lance with fear in their eyes. Lance's throat tightened and he glanced up to Hunk who had the same wince on his face.

What could they say? It was pointless to lie, and the kids wouldn't believe it anyway. However, Lance didn't want to make the children more scared.

 _They're kids,_ Lance thought, bitterly. _They should just worry about playing tag, getting extra dessert and how to stay up past their bedtime!_

Lance took a deep breath as he looked down to Xenia. Gently, he wrapped his arms around her.

"There are…some bad people coming, but don't worry." Lace patted her head as he gave her a thumbs up with a cheesy grin. "I'm going to personally make certain you and everyone else gets away safely."

Xenia chewed her lower lip. "But won't you get hurt?"

"Naw," Hunk chimed from the back. "Lance is impossible to kill! I've seen him survive a bomb explosion!"

 _I rather wish that wasn't true,_ Lance thought grimly, but still kept his smile. "Yeah, that's right. No way are those big bad dumb dumbs are getting to get you guys."

The children look a bit more at ease and the younger ones faces brightened a bit. Lance opened his mouth to tell another story, but footsteps were heard. Leah stood at the doorway along with Vector and some other rebels.

She looked at Lance and Hunk to give a nod. "We need to get the children to the ships now."

Lance swallowed as he felt Xenia's grip on him tightened, like she was clinging to a large teddy bear. Hunk rose and helped the rebels escort the children out of the room. Tral lagged behind until he and Xenia were the only children left.

"Mom, do we really have to leave?" Tral asked as Leah approached him.

"I'm afraid so," his mother said as kneeled. "Your father will meet us at the new base."

"I don't want to go," Xenia whined as she buried her face into Lance's chest.

Tral sighed as he reached out to take his sister's hand. "Sorry, but we got to. Come on."

"Nnnooo," Xenia whined and wrapped her thin arms around Lance's waist. "I want to stay with Lance!"

Lance felt his heart torn to pieces. As he stared down at this tiny fluffy alien girl clinging to him, he was certain if Zarkon had found a way to use THIS as his weapon, he would have captured Voltron ages ago.

Hunk looked ready to give Lance a hand, but Lance gestured for him to stay back, while Tral scratched his head debating if he should pull Xenia off of Lance.

Leah frowned as she kneeled and went to reach for her daughter. "Xenia, please don't-"

Lance held up his hand to her. "Can you just give us a second?"

Tral frowned. "What's a second?" he asked, but his question was left unanswered as Leah drew back her arms and did as requested.

Lance put on a smile and gingerly titled Xenia's head so she was staring up to him.

"Sweetie, you have to go because I want you to be safe. Voltron can't protect you as well if you aren't in the ship with your mom, and brother," he said.

Xenia chewed her bottom lip. "But what if I don't see you again?" she said. "Some of the adults don't come back when they leave."

Lance noticed Leah gave a wince, but kept silent. Lance tried not to dwell too hard on the meaning of the Xenia's words as he kept his smile.

"Hey, you will definately see me again," Lance said as Xenia gradually loosen her hold. "It's a promise." He snapped his fingers. "A pinky promise even."

Xenia tilted her head. "A pinky promise?"

"It's an Earth thing," Lance explained. "Just give me your smallest finger and wrap it around mine. Yeah, that's it."

He gently shook their fingers together. "I, Lance, pinky swear you will leave this place safely and get to see me again. Okay?"

Xenia gave a wary pout. "So, you promise?"

"Yup, promise," Lance said, "and as a paladin, I have to keep my word. Right, Hunk?"

"Uh, right," Hunk stammered as he kneeled. "It's like in the guidebook. Totally against the rules if we break them."

Xenia puffed out her cheeks, but then took a deep breath. "Okay," she said, slowly.

"That's girl," Lance said as she gave Xenia one more hug. "Now, go and keep your brother and mom safe."

Xenia nodded as crawled off of Lance and went to take her mother's hand. Leah muttered a 'Thank you' before taking Tral's hand and lead them out of the chamber. Xenia turned around to look back at him. Lance responded with a smile and a wave that he didn't dare drop until they were gone.

He let his hands flop into his lap as he wiped a tear from his eye. He almost forgot he wasn't alone until Hunk touched his arm.

"You, okay, man?" Hunk asked.

Lance scoffed as he rose to his feet.

"Of course, I'm fine," he stated and cleared his throat. "She just..reminds me a lot of my little sister when she was at that age, you know? Makes me nostalgic."

Hunk gave a half smile as he patted his shoulder. "Come on, let's go so you can keep that promise."

"Yeah," Lance said softly as he followed. This was one promise he was going to make certain to keep.

080808080808080808080808080808080

Pidge sighed as she finished packing up the last of the backup drives onto the ships. She spent much time as she could searching the files for Matt, but she found no lead. Pidge was frustrated, but at least she had more hope.

If her father was out there alive and well, then Matt had to be too. She climbed out of the ship at the same time with Maya and Daien trailing behind her.

"Which ship are you guys going on?" Pidge asked.

"We're going with Ford and Thace," Maya stated, calmly. "We're in one of the smaller ships and hopefully everything will go smoothly."

Pidge frowned at the mention of Thace. _I wonder how Keith did about getting answers from him._

Daien sighed as he looked at the other rebels entering their ships and rubbed his neck. "I'm sorry we didn't find anything about your brother," he said, "but I promise I'll keep an ear out for him."

Pidge gave a small smile. "Thanks, I appreciate that." She patted his shoulder. "When I find my dad, I'll pass along that you're okay. He'll want to know."

Daien blushed slightly, but gave a small nod.

"Pidge," Shiro said as he walked up to them. "We got reports of those ships getting closer, we need to get our lions."

"Right," Pidge said, "was just saying goodbye."

Shiro frowned as he locked eyes with Daien. "You're..Daien, right? The one that helped Sam?"

Daien's blushed deepened, but jerked forward as Maya shoved him towards Shiro. "Um..yes."

Shiro's face softened as he offered a smile. "Thank you for setting Sam free," he said as he offered a hand to shake. "It..means a lot to me too."

Daien stared confused at the hand until Pidge sighed as took Daien's hand to shake with Shiro's. "Earth tradition, you shake hands to say 'Thank you'," she explained.

"Oh," Daien said shyly as he slowly shook it. "But…I really didn't do much."

"Maybe not to you," Shiro said, "but I'm betting it meant the world to Sam."

"That's what I keep saying," Maya said as she lightly whacked the back of Daien's head. "But idiot never listens to me."

Daien gave a pout as he let go of Shiro's hand to rub his head. "Well, sorry for being thick headed."

Maya shook her head and then gave a serious frown to Shiro and Pidge. "Hey…don't go dying on us or anything…okay? You guys…are rather useful to have around."

Pidge gave a small smile in return. "Same goes for you guys too."

"Maya, Daien!" Thace voice called out from the other end of the tunnel. "Ford is waiting, we need to go."

The two young Galrans gave Shiro and Pidge a quick nod before dashing to where Thace was. On route, the Galrans ran by Keith who was coming towards them. Pidge's eyes landed upon the dagger in his hands and frowned.

 _That's definitely not the dagger Keith showed me earlier,_ she thought.

"You guys all set?" Keith asked as he approached.

"As much as we can be at this point," Shiro said as he began to lead the way. "Hunk and Lance should be waiting for us with the lions."

Keith nodded and Pidge purposely lagged a few steps back to be next to Keith. "So, how did it go?" Pidge asked with her hand covered.

Keith sighed. "He wanted to tell me, but then we had the emergency meeting and didn't get the chance."

Pidge's mouth dropped as her eye twitched. "Are you serious?" she grumbled.

"I know," Keith growled, but she saw his hand tightened over the dagger. "However, he promised he would talk to me after the rebels got off safely."

Pidge raised a skeptical eyebrow. "And he's going to keep to it?"

"I hope so," Keith muttered.

"What are you two whispering about back there?" Shiro asked.

Pidge and Keith jumped in unison. "N-nothing, Shiro!" Pidge said. "We're just taking bets on who can take out the most ships."

Shiro blinked baffled, but gave a shrug as he continue to lead the way. Pidge shoulders dropped in relief and looked to Keith.

 _I swear,_ she thought. _If Thace doesn't keep that promise I'll just have to hunt the guy down myself._

0808080808080808080808080808080808080808080

Keith sat in Red's cockpit as he got his screens online. "Ready, here, Shiro," Keith said through the comlink.

"Same here!" Pidge called.

"Ditto!" said Hunk.

"I am awesome as ever," Lance replied. "If I could be any more awesome, I would be glowing."

Keith smirked. "And then you would be a prime target for the Galra to shoot…in which case go for it."

"Hey!" Lance retorted as Hunk and Pidge laughed.

"Guys, settle down," Shiro's spoke and the screens started to beep. "Our guests have arrived."

Keith tapped the screen and saw the dreaded warships emerged in the sky. He took a deep breath and stole another glance at Thace's dagger.

"You better be alive after this," he muttered.

"Alright, team," Shiro spoke in his leader voice. "Remember, take out as many ships as you can, but the goal is to be a distraction. Once we start keep an eye out for the rebels ships in case they get into trouble. Got it?"

Each of the paladins confirmed in unison.

"Then let's do this!" Shiro said as Black launched into the sky.

Keith followed seconds after him and headed straight towards the ship. He just hope this fight didn't thrown any surprised at them.


	10. Chapter 10

Thace looked over the monitors as he watched the paladins take on the ships. He tried to ignore the small pang of worry in the back of his mind as he focussed on the controls.

"All systems go here," Ford said as the engine started.

"Same here," Daien said from his seat and winced at the screen. "Think the paladins will be okay?"

"They've been in larger battles than this, they'll be fine" Thace stated in a firm tone to reassure the boy..and himself.

"Leah's ship will be taking off any minute," Ford said as he took the passenger seat next to Thace. "We got to be ready to-"

"No! No!" Maya cried as she jumped from her seat. "This is bad!"

"What's wrong?" Thace asked as he turned around.

"We got droid sentries in our tunnel," Maya spat.

"What?!" Ford exclaimed as Thace zoomed over and hovered over the girl's head.

He curse as he saw the image of over a dozen soldiers marching in the tunnel straight towards them. "Porok must have found one of the tunnels and decided to send some ground troops!"

"And they're marching straight towards us," Maya said as she slammed the control panel.

Ford growled as Daien inched closer. "But that's not bad, right?" he said and looked to Ford. "You we have a cannon on this ship."

"A single cannon," Ford exclaimed as he raised his arms. "Meant to distract a ship long enough for us to escape. It's not meant to take out a whole squad!"

"What if we just ram them?" Maya suggested. "We would probably get damaged, but we should still be able enough to fly."

"We have no way of knowing what they have set up at the end of the tunnel," Thace said with a wince. "They could have a ship waiting for us and we fly straight into their trap."

"Not to mention, even if we got through, the ships flying behind us wouldn't get the same chance," Daien muttered.

Ford yanked as his ears before stomping to the control panel. "We'll have to back up, tell the other ships to do the same and take another tunnel out."

Maya's eyes widened in alarm. "But if we don't stop the sentries here, they'll reach the hangar before everyone else gets out."

"Hate to add to bad news," Daien said as he tapped the monitor, "but looks like they got a tank with them." He groaned. "We're so dead."

Thace calmed the boy by patting his shoulder. "No, we're not…at least you're not."

Ford glared as he spun around in the chair. "I know that look, and I hate that look. What are you plotting?"

Thace picked up Keith's dagger and a tablet as he turned to him. "Stig is flying in just a personal transport ship, correct? Made for one person?"

"Yes," Ford said with a growl.

"Then he and I are switching and he'll fly with you," Thace said as he typed into the tablet and held up the map. "I'm going to use his transport ship and take one of the smaller shortcut tunnels outside."

"What good will that do?" Maya asked. "You can't take out all those sentries."

"No, but if I have bombs place in the right positions it will collapse the tunnel and take them out," Thace explained as he headed to the door and pressed the button. "By the time they dig themselves out, everyone else should be gone."

"And how exactly do you plan to get out of here once that's done?" Ford said as he crossed his arms.

"I'll use the transport ship and follow you," Thace confirmed.

"But what if the other sentries catch you while you're planting the bombs?!" Daien exclaimed.

"Simple, I don't get caught," Thace stated in a firm tone.

"This is a risky plan," Ford stated. "We-"

"It's the only one we have and we don't have time to argue," Thace said as he ventured out of the ship.

Ford sighed and swiftly tossed him a comlink from his pouch. "At least stay in contact so I know you're not dead."

Thace caught it as the door closed behind him and he hit the ground running. He had to hurry or everything would be for nothing.

08080808080808080808080808080808080808080

Lance and the Blue Lion ducked ducked as two ships shot at him. "Could use a little back up here!" he called in the helmet.

"Got you covered!" Pidge cried as her Lion suddenly appeared and headbutted into them. The ships collided into each other, which gave Lance the perfect chance to have Blue shoot.

"Yes! Two more down!" Lance cheered and winced as he saw the other ships. "And only a dozen more to go…how are the rebels doings?"

"They just started to evacuate," Shiro called. "Keep it up guys!"

Lance took a breathe to calm his nerves. _Right, stay focus,_ he thought as he drove Blue to where the Red Lion was taking down a ship. _We can't slip up here-_

"Problem! I'm tied up with three ships and one of them slipped passed me!" Hunk yelled. "They're heading towards Leah's ship!"

Lance froze. Leah's ship. The one the kids were on?!

Blue growled in his mind at the same moment his hands gripped on the control panel.

"Keith, you're the fastest, can you reach it?!" Shiro exclaimed.

"Arrg! Bit tied up right now," Keith exclaimed as Red did a somersault away from four ships firing at him.

Lance swallowed, the echo of the promise he made to Xenia ringing in his mind.

Shiro's cursed over the headset. "Alright, I'll try-"

"I GOT THIS!" Lance exclaimed as he did a u-turn and had Blue fly at top speed.

"Lance, wait! Shiro cried, but Lance blocked him out.

He spotted the warship and with Blue reading his mind instantly locked onto it. Leah's ship was almost out of the stratosphere, but the warship was catching up fast.

"Almost," Lance muttered as Blue flew closer to it. He couldn't mess up here. Had to make it count. "Almost."

The warship looked ready to take a shot as it's canons warmed up.

"NOW!" Lance slammed on the button and Blue shot out her freeze laser.

The warship staggered as it was hit and ice instantly covered it, but it wasn't enough. Blue's sensors indicated the canons were going to fire again. Lance drive Blue straight at it and she gave a loud roar as she cut through the ship effortlessly.

Lance had never be more relieved to see a ship explode. He panted and checked the screen. He nearly panic when he didn't see Leah's ship, until Blue's radar showed the ship was now off the planet. The kids were safe. They were out of danger.

"Got em," Lance told him as he took in a gulp of air. "I got them."

"Good job, Lance," Shiro stated with an amused chuckle.

"Whoa," Keith said over the headset. "Didn't know you had it in you."

"I did," Hunk commented. "I once saw Lance chase off a dog that scared his little sister."

Lance gave a smirk as he drove Blue back around. "What can I say? I'm a natural big brother."

"Well, you're going to have to do it again because two more are headed your way," Pidge stated.

Lance turned Blue around and groaned. There were indeed two more ships making a straight beeline for him.

"Terrific," Lance said as he began to charge at them. "Could use some help on this end-"

A cannon shot fired and hit the two ships. Lance shield his eyes and blinked as he watched the smoking ships fall.

"What the?" he muttered.

"CORAN ATTACK!" Coran's voice cheered in the comlink. "I will never get tired of that!"

Lance looked at Blue's monitor and a smile grew. The Castle of Lions hovering over the planet and rapidly firing at the ships.

"Sorry we're late, Paladins," Allura shouted over the headset. "What's the situation?"

"The evacuation just began," Shiro stated. "We're trying to provide cover and distract the Galra."

"So we're having a ton of fun as you can imagine," Lance stated. "And had you been here a few minutes ago, you would have seen me being awesome, Princess! I-"

"Tell her later," Keith shouted. "Shoot now!"

Lance gave a pout, but it vanished as he flew back into the fight. The kids got away safely, now they just had to make certain everyone else did. There was no way that could go wrong! Easy as pie.

080808080808080808080808080808080808080

Thace had not ran so fast since he fled Zarkon's center of commander after freeing Voltron. He could barely think as he seized the bombs, fly in the small side tunnel to the outside and then plant the bombs near the tunnel's entrance.

Much to his annoyance sentries had been stationed right outside the tunnel. By some miracle, he managed to sneak past them and ventured inside. Thace would have liked to put more thought into where exactly he planted the bombs, but he was pressed for time as is.

After burying the last bomb in the dirt, he took a deep breath as he placed the remote to set the bombs up his sleeve. "There, that should do it," he muttered. "As long as nothing else-"

"INTRUDER DETECTED. IDENTIFY YOURSELF OR PREPARED TO BE ARRESTED."

Thace cursed silently as he slowly turned around to greet a pair of sentry droids each pointing a gun at him.

 _Just my luck,_ he thought as he straightened his posture and placed his hands behind his back.

"You don't recognize me?" he spat in his commanding tone. "I was assigned by Commander Prorok to inspect the stability of this tunnel."

His hands gripped around the hilt of Keith's dagger.

"ORDER NOT RECOGNIZED," the droids said in unison. "GIVE IDENTIFICATION NUMBER OR PREPARE TO BE SHOT."

"Yes, yes, of course," Thace said as he stepped forward as he pulled out the dagger from its' hilt. "I have it in my pocket…Here it it!"

Thace sprang forward and stabbed one of the droids in the chest and then ducked as the other droid shot at him. As predicted, the shot hit the damaged droid in the head. With it out of commission, Thace zoomed in on the other one.

He knocked the gun out of the droids hands and stabbed it in the head with the dagger. Thace took off before he even saw the droid fall to the ground. He could hear more troops coming his way.

They appeared and were prepared to shoot. Thace hit the button on the remote. Explosions rattled the cave and then a rumble was heard as the ceiling began to collapse. The droids looked around in confusion at the falling debris, but one still tried to shoot. Thace ducked and rolled out of the cave, mere seconds before the entrance collapse on itself and the droids.

Thace slammed against a rock and hissed in pain as he came to a stop. "I'll be feeling that later," he grumbled as he staggered to stand.

"Thace, you alive?" Ford's voice came over the comlink.

Thace sighed as he picked it up. "I'm alive..sore, but alive." He began to walk away from the cave. "I'm going to get into my ship and-"

A laser blast struck him. Thace toppled over, dropping the comlink. He struggled to stand up as he gripped the burns on his sides. He hissed in pain as he turned around and spotted five droids with blasters aiming directly at him.

Thace glared as he rose. "I'm amazed you all aren't shooting at me this instant."

"I told them not to," a familiar voice spoke. Thace froze as Prorok emerged from behind the droids. With his hands tucked behind his back, the commander held a large smirk. "I wanted to save the pleasure for myself."

Thace opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off as Ford's voice broke over the comlink.

"Thace? What's going on?" he spoke. "Quiznak! Answer me-"

Thace stomped on it, smashing it to pieces. _I can't risk Prorok finding the others,_ he thought grimly.

"Now who was that?" Prorok asked as he stepped forward.

"None of your concern," Thace said as he reached for his dagger and tried to ignore the pain of his burn.

Prorok's eyes narrowed as anger washed over his face. "I beg to differ," he snarled as he approached. "You were my second in command, the one I could rely on the most." His hand tightened. "Do you have any idea how humiliating it was to discover there was a traitor right under my nose?!"

"I have a rough idea," Thace muttered under his breath.

The Galran commander's eyes hardened as he started to circle Thace like a predator waiting to attack. Thace knew there was no point in running. The droids were still pointing their guns at him. He'd been struck down if he even attempted to take a step back.

"I'll admit," Thace stated as he held out his dagger, "I'm amazed to see you on the ground during an attack instead of your ship."

"If you want a job done right, you have to do it yourself," Prorok spat. "The only way I can redeem myself to Zarkon if I managed to capture the ones who have been targeting our weapon factories lately."

He gave a small bitter laugh. "When one of my subordinates discovered the cloaked ship in the recording, I had the signals traced hoping it would lead me to you."

He gestured to where the paladins were fighting. "Load and behold, not only do I find you, but I stumbled upon Voltron." A cruel smile appeared over his lips. "Now, all I need is to discover who you are working for."

"I work for no one, but myself," Thace said as tried to take a step back.

"Those ships the paladins are trying to protect suggest otherwise, but no matter, they're not my concern at the moment," Prorok said as he brought out his own dagger. "Whatever secrets you have, I'm certain Lord Zarkon will yank out of your mouth himself…that is if the witch doesn't beat him to it."

Thace tensed at that. He had only briefly seen the kind of torture Haggar would engulf upon victims and that was for 'experimentation'. He didn't wish to find out what kind she would have in store for him.

"So, what's your plan then?" Thace asked. "Have your droids shoot me?"

The droids blasters clicked ready to shoot, but Prorok raised his arm. "No, he is mine!"  
The droids paused and each of them lowered their blasters.

"I need to restore my pride," Prorok said as he turned to Thace. "Only way to achieve that is to defeat you by my own hands and carry what's left of you to answer for your crime."

Thace grimaced as he glanced to this wound. Prorok was a strong warrior and not one to be trifled with. He and Thace had spared in the past, usually with the two of them being on tie, but those were merely for training. Prorok was playing for keeps and Thace's injury gave him a great advantage.

 _He no doubt planned for that,_ Thace thought grimly. _Typical Prorok._

"Unless," Prorok said with a hard frown as he lowered his dagger. "You give yourself up to me."

Thace faltered slightly. "What?"

"Traitor or not, you worked with me for countless cycles," he said, "out of respect for that, I'll give you this offer only once." He pointed at him. "Tell me who is it you work for and I'll ask Lord Zarkon to grant you a pardon."

Thace scoffed at that. He was almost touched by the useless offer. "We both know Zarkon is not that forgiving."

"Perhaps," Prorok said with a sneer. "But it's your only chance at survival."

"I rather die," Thace spat with a growl. _I've given up far too much to let it all fall here._

He thought of Keith and a precious person he had been forced to leave behind long ago. His grip tightened on his dagger. _I refuse to loose anything else. I won't let it be in vain._

Prorok sighed and shook his head like a disappointed teacher. "Then, I'll take you to Lord Zarkon." He raised his dagger. "After I teach you a lesson in humiliation!"

Prorok charged and Thace braced himself to block. This was not going to be an easy fight to win.


	11. Chapter 11

Keith felt another wave of satisfaction as Red destroyed another ship. So far, everything was going to plan for once. They had taken down a fair number of ships, and most of the rebels had been able to flee the planet.

There were a couple of close calls after Lance and Blue's attack on the ship that slipped through, but it seemed to be under control now. His fingers stroked the hilt of the dagger that sat next to him.

"Thace should be gone by now," he muttered.

"Kid! Keith, do you read me!?" Ford's voice shouted over the headset.

Keith jumped and tapped the communication button on the panel to respond.

"Ford?" Keith asked in shock. "I thought you left with Thace?"

The paladins had granted the rebels the ability to contact the lions directly in case of an emergency. The fact that Ford was using it left a queasy feeling in Keith's stomach.

"In the process to, Kid," Ford sharply replied. "But Thace isn't with me!"

Keith's eyes widened in alarm. "What?! But he's-"

"Droids had gotten into one of the tunnels and Thace went to deal with it," Ford explained. "He said he took them out, but then he got cut off and he won't respond. I'm certain something's happened."

Keith cursed. "And you can't get to him?"

"We've already taken off, there was no time to go back," Ford replied, and Keith could hear the static in the radio. "I'm hoping you can reach him. I'm sending you his last known coordinates."

Keith saw a message appeared on the screen and he instantly clicked on it. His eyes narrowed. It wasn't far from where he was.

"I'll find him," Keith vowed. "Leave it to me."

Ford gave a sigh as more static was heard over the link. "Thanks, Kid and…good luck."

Keith could hear nothing else as static took over. He let out a curse as he turned Red around.

"Shiro," Keith spoke into this helmet. "Thace is in trouble, I have to go and help him."

"What do you mean?" Pidge asked. "What happened?"

"I'll explain later," Keith said. "But I need to go now."

"Alright, but be careful," Shiro replied. "Call us if you need backup. Everyone else, stay focus and alert. Once we get the signal from the last rebel ship we're getting out of here!"

Keith would have replied to confirm, but his mind was too focussed on flying. Red gave a roar as they flew at top speed.

 _Thace, you better be alive or I'm never going to forgive you!"_ Keith swore, silently.

08080808080808080808080808080808080

Thace was finding it difficult to keep his stamina the longer the fight dragged on. His wound was throbbing and there was no opening for him to escape. Even if he did, the droids were ready to fire on him. Prorok was secured this fight would have one winner and the odds weren't in Thace's favor.

He grunted as he ducked another blow and attempted to block with his dagger. Prorok snarled as he drew his face closer.

"I can't help, but notice you're not using your regular dagger," Prorok sneered. "Did you lose it when you after you betrayed us and fled!"

"None. Of. Your. Concern!" Thace roared as he used all of his strength to push Prorok back.

The commander staggered slightly and lost his footing as he feel to one knee. Thace raised his dagger, but Prorok tripped him with his leg and knocked Thace to the ground. In an eyeblink, Prorok pounced on Thace and pinned him to the ground. Thace growled and dug his fingers into the ground as Prorok held the dagger to his throat.

"You going to kill me?" Thace spat.

"Hardly, you're more useful to Zarkon alive," Prorok taunted and as he gave a nod to his droids. "However, having you be shot at a few times will insure you are unable to fight before I drag you to my ship."

The droids raised their blasters to aim. Thace took a deep breath and braced himself for a wave of immense pain.

A thundering roar caused the droids to raise their heads and for Prorok turn his head in shock. Thace blinked stunned as the Red Lion flew straight towards them. Before either Galran could say a word, the Red Lion shot a blast of fire at them.

Prorok gave a yelp of surprise as he rolled out of the way. Thace remained where he was as the fire shot over him and hit the droids. Thace braced himself from the heat of the blast and saw Prorok ducked behind a boulder to do the same.

Another shot blast at the other droids as the lion landed and then gave another roar. Thace scrambled at his feet and wasn't certain if he was angry or relieved to see Keith run out of the cockpit towards him.

"What are you doing here?!" he snapped at him as he limped.

"Saving your hide," Keith said as he reached for Thace's arm. "Or did you want to get killed?"

"You took a big risk coming here-" Thace began, but his lecture evaporated as Prorok emerged from behind the bolder while swinging his sword straight to Keith.

"Behind you!" Thace said.

Keith summoned the sword from his bayard and spun around. He blocked Prorok's dagger from cutting his nose off. Prorok laughed as Keith struggled under the commander's weight.

"I find myself a traitor, and a paladin of Voltron," he sneered as he pushsed Keith back a few steps. "Zarkon will be pleased with me."

"Fat chance of that happening!" Keith growled back.

Thace seized the dagger he had dropped on the ground.

"You are a boy!" Prorok laughed. "You believe you can fight me off by yourself?!"

"He's hardly by himself!" Thace cried as he lunged and stabbed the dagger into Prorok's leg.

The Galran commander cried out in pain as Thace kept his grip and dug in the blade. Keith used the chance to kick Prorok back with his left leg. Thace yanked his dagger out as Prorok tumbled backwards and hit his head against the boulder.

Thace panted as he and Keith watched Prorok slump against the rock and fell face first into the dirt.

"Dare I ask who he is?" Keith asked as he kneeled to lend Thace a shoulder.

"Later," Thace said as he leaned against Keith. "We need to leave before he wakes up."

Thace had a brief thought of taking his dagger and finishing off Prorok for good, but he was too injured.

 _Besides,_ Thace thought. _Having the Red Lion here will lure in the other ships. We don't have long before they arrive._

Keith wrapped Thace's arm around him and led him inside the Red Lion. The door shut behind him as they entered the cockpit and Keith set him near the pilot chair. He bumped against it slightly, which aggravated the wound and he grunted in pain.

Keith kneeled as he checked Thace over. "That looks bad."

"I've been in worse," Thace replied, which wasn't a lie. "Nevermind me, get flying."

Keith's eyes hardened like he was tempted to argue, but the boy sighed as moved into the pilot seat. "Hang on, things could get a bit bumpy," he warned.

Thace nodded as he leaned back. With adrenaline leaving his body, the agony of his injuries were increasing. "How did you know I was in trouble?" he asked.

"Ford sent me a message," Keith said as the Red Lion took to the air.

"Ah," Thace said as he shut his eyes. "Should have known."

"Coran, listen," he heard Keith speak into his helmet. "I'm going to need a healing pod ready when I get there…No, no, it's not me, it's Thace." He heard a sigh. "Yes, I have Thace, Shiro. It's a long story."

Thace went to shift his weight to make himself more comfortable and suddenly realized he was still clutching Keith's dagger in his hands and sighed.

 _I guess this means we'll be exchanging daggers sooner than expected._

08080808080808080808080808080808080808080

By the time Keith and Red Lion rejoined the group, the other rebels had fled and it was time for team Voltron to do the same. The rest had happened so fast.

Thace didn't talk much as Keith flew Red Lion back to the castle. Keith was getting more concerned with each passing second it was a sign the Galran was getting worse. As soon as the lion flew into the Castle of Lions, they fled the planet and went through a wormhole before the remaining Galra ships tried to follow.

Coran had a healing pod set and ready to go. Keith noticed both him and Allura exchanged awkward glances as Keith let Thace lean on him to walk. He sincerely doubt Thace would let anyone actually carry him, but at the rate they walked, with Thace limping, it was going to take forever to get there.

Keith had never been so grateful when Hunk appeared and took Thace's other arm to speed up the process. He wasn't able to see Shiro's expression, but Keith had a feeling seeing a Galran on their homebase did not make their leader comfortable.

Before long, Thace was set in the healing pod and Keith went to shut it, but not before Thace slipped his dagger back to him.

"I will…say," Thace whispered, "I did not expect to give it back to you this soon."

Keith opened, but then shut his mouth as he gave a nod before shutting the healing pod. He sighed and rubbed his eyes as Thace went into a deep sleep before turning to Coran.

This had not be the outcome he'd been expecting.

"Is he going to be okay?" Keith asked as he saw the other paladins and Allura enter.

"It will take a day or so," Coran said as he tapped the monitor. "But he should be restored to full health with no problems."

"Uh, great," Hunk said as he rubbed his neck. "So…what do we do when he wakes up? Help him get back to the rebels?"

Pidge winced. "That will be a little tricky since the resistance didn't exactly leave us a contact number."

"Yeah," Lance said as he looked to Keith. "How did you know Thace was in trouble anyway?"

"Ford contacted me and I went to investigate," Keith said as he folded his arms. "But he didn't tell me how to contact them afterwards."

"Best we can do now is just wait and see what happens," Shiro stated and looked to Allura. "Leah did mention she was interested in forming an alliance with us, so I imagine they will try to get in touch with us."

Allura smiled and nodded. "In that case, we'll simply treat Thace like we would any other guest. We know for certain he means us no harm, so him staying with us until the resistance comes for him shouldn't be a problem."

Keith chewed his bottom lip. He had wanted to ask Thace questions, but that had been on the belief he could escape back to the castle if he became overwhelmed by the answers. It was harder to do so with him on the ship.

 _And what about Shiro?_ Keith thought as he glanced to him. _Is he going to be okay with a Galran on the ship?_

Shiro's face was unreadable, but he did seem to not trying to be looking directly at Thace.

There was a squeeze at Keith's hand and he glanced to see Pidge was the culprit.

"It's going to be okay," she whispered. "At least you don't have to worry about him running off on you, right?"

Keith gave a small smile and nodded. "Yeah, there's that at least," he whispered.

"In the meantime," Coran said as he cleared his throat. "That was quite the battle and I believe some recuperation is in order."

"Sounds good," Hunk said as he rotated his shoulder. "I'm in desperate need of a shower and food."

"Excellent!" Coran said as he began to lead a way. "I got a proper feast set out for you all-"

"He meant a normal meal, Coran," Lance exclaimed as they trailed after him.

"It is very 'normal'," Coran continued, "especially if you're from the planet Amerath."

A series of groans was heard. Pidge gave Keith a small wave before chasing after the others. Keith remained where he was as he turned to look back at Thace, but then heard footsteps and realized Shiro had stayed too.

"Hey, you okay, Buddy?" Shiro asked as he placed a hand over his shoulder.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Keith asked with a look. "Can't imagine having Thace here on your home turf is..easy for you."

Shiro gave a forced smile, but his eyes looked exhausted. "I'll adjust," he said. "I know logically he doesn't want to hurt us but…takes awhile to actually know that, you know?"

Keith nodded and leaned against his foster brother. Shiro could say that with a regular Galran…but…if Keith was what he thought he was, would Shiro still accept him?

"What's wrong, Keith?" Shiro asked as he wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "That worried about Thace?"

"No, it's.." Keith started and shook his head. "No, it's nothing..at least nothing I can talk about right now."

Shiro raised an eyebrow, but kept his mouth shut as he steered the two of them towards the door. "Let's go get cleaned up." He gave a laugh. "Don't know about you, but I'm starving."

Keith nodded as he stole one more glance at Thace before returning his gaze back ahead. He would get his answers soon enough, but until then, there was no point dwelling about the unknown.

Keith wrapped his fingers around the hilt of his own dagger. When Thace woke up, there was no turning back for either of them.

End of Part 2

 **Author's Note:**

 _And that's the end of part 2. I know it didn't have all the reveals people have been waiting for, but I promise you all everything is going to come to a head in part 3._

 _The reason for that is because this story had enough going on, and once we get to the actual connection between Thace and Keith I just felt it would overtake the whole story, and part 2 had enough going on with everyone else. Thus, I felt that plot point needed it's own separate story. This story was mainly for letting a chance for all the characters to have a moment. Part 3 will mostly be focussed on Keith and Thace again._

 _As for part 3, I'm not posting it yet since I'm not finish it, and I rather have the whole story complete so I can give you guys the regular updates you're use to for this. With that said, I am more than halfway done part 3 so hopefully you all won't have to wait too long for it._

 _In the meantime, while you wait, if you wish to send me questions about this AU to my tumblr feel free._

 _I won't answer anything too spoilery, but if you want to poke me questions about the rebels, what my headcanons for the world is or even that Thace was like as a young rebel, etc go right ahead._

 _Thank you all for sticking with this series! It pleases me so much that you guys are enjoying it as much as I am writing it. ^_^_


End file.
